BEHEMOTH: 


A  LEGEND 

••  '^''••••'-"•".'•'••.•••v">. '  *\    ;  v 


THE  MOUND-BUILDERS. 


// 


NEW-YORKs 
J.   &  H.   G.   LANGLEY. 

BOSTONi 
WEEKS,  JORDAN  *  CO* 

••*»»•• 
1839. 


£73 


cording  to  aft  of  CoBf  rcu,  la  the  year  1839, 
BY  J.   *   II.   0.   tANGLEY, 

In  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  DUtrict  Court  of  the  Southern  District 
of  New-York. 


illiam-street. 

• 

5475S 


PREFACE. 


THE  author  solicits  the  attention  of  his  coun 
trymen  to  the  following  work.    He  ventures  to 
do  so  for  reasons  which  seem  to  him  a  sufficient 
justification  of  his  present  labors.    His  main  de- 
sign  was  to  make  those  gigantic  relics,  which  are  \ 
found  scattered  throughout  this  country,  subser 
vient  to  the  purposes  of  imagination.    He  has, 
therefore,  dared  to  evoke  this  Mighty  Creature 
from  the  earth  and  striven  to  endow  it  with  life 
and  motion.    Simultaneous  and  co-eval  with  this 
the  great  race  that  preceded  the  red  men  as  the 
I     possessors  of  our  continent,  have  been  called  into 
*     being.    With  whatever  success  the  author  may 
^    have  accomplished  this  portion  of  his  task,  the 
*•    venerable  race  which  struggled  and  enduredfin 

^  ^0Q5v,.  "••:>'•&; 


ir  PRIFACK. 

these  fair  fields,  ere  they  became  our  home  and 
dwelling  place,  must  be  allowed  to  awaken  our 
feelings  and  share  our  generous  regards.    In  de 
scribing  the  Mound-builders  no  effort  has  been 
made  to  paint  their  costume,,  their  modes  of  life 
or  their  system  of  government.    They  are  pre 
sented  to  the  reader  almost  exclusively  under  a 
single  aspect,  and  under  the  influence  of  a  single 
emotion.    It  matters  not  to   us  whether  they 
dwelt  under  n  monarchical  or  popular  form  of 
polity ;    whether   king  or   council  ruled  their 
realms ;  nor,  in  fine,  what  was  their  exact  out 
ward  condition.    It  is  enough  for  us  to  know, 
and  enough  for  our  humanity  to  inquire,  that    . 
they  existed,  toiled,  felt  and  suffered ;  that  to 
them  fell,  in  these  pleasant  regions,  their  portion 
of  the  common  heritage  of  our  .me e,  and  that 
around  those  ancient  hearth-stones,  washed  to 
light  on  the  banks  of  the  far  western  rivers,  once 
gossiped  and  enjoyed  life,  a  nation  that  has  utter 
ly  faded  away.    We  are  moved  deeply  in  looking 
upon  their  mortuary  remains — those  disinterred 
and  stately  skeletons — for  we  know  that  they  once 


PREFACE*  T 

were  men,  and  moved  among  men  with  hearts 
full  of  human  impulses,  and  heads  warm  with 
mortal  schemes  and  fancies,  Of  this,  History 
could  make  us  no  surer.  Over  the  earth  where 
they  repose,  purple  flowers  spring  up,  and  with 
the  brilliancy  of  their  hues,  and  the  sweetness  of 
their  breath,  give  a  splendor  and  fragrance  to  the 
uir.  This  touches  him  as  deeply,  the  author  must 
confess,  and  seems  to  his  untravelled  eyes  as 
beautiful  as  any  thing  he  can  read  of  Athens,  of 
cloudless  Italy,  or  the  sunny  France. ,  Humanity 
and  nature  are  all  with  which  the  heart  wishes  to 
deal/and  we  have  them  here  in  their  naked  out 
lines  and  grandeur.  There  is  enough  here  for 
author  and  reader  if  they  be  of  strong  minds  and 
true  hearts.  A  green  forest  or  a  swelling  mound 
is  to  them  as  glorious  as  a  Grecian  temple;  and 
they  are  so  simple  as  to  be  well  nigh  as  much  af 
fected  by  the  sight  of  a  proud  old  oak  in  decay 
near  at  home,  as  by  the  story  of  a  baronial  castle 
tottering  to  its  fall  three  thousand  miles  off. 

The  author  is  aware  of  the  difficulty  and  mag- 
n i tude  of  his  undertaking.    He  knows  as  well  as 


i. 


Vl  PREFACE. 

- 

any  one  can  know,  the  obstacles  to  vanquish  and 
remove ;  and  he  also  knows  the  obstacles  that 
will  not  be  vanquished  nor  removed.    Notwith 
standing  all  this  he  feels  assured,  if  he  has  con 
tended  in  any  degree  successfully  with  the  great 
ness  and  majesty  of  the  subject,  he  will  have  ac 
complished  some  slight  service  for  the  literature  of 
his  country,  and  something,  he  ventures  to  hope, 
for  his  own  good  name. 
New-  York,  January,  1839, 


« 
•• 

. 


PART  FIRST. 

Ill 


f 


. 

BEHEMOTH 


PART   FIRST, 

UPON  the  summit  of  a  mountain  which  beetled 
in  the  remote  west  over  the  dwellings  and  de» 
fences  of  a  race  long  since  vanished,  stood,  at  the 
close  of  a  midsummer's  day,  a  gigantic  shape;, 
whose  vastness  darkened  the  whole  vale  beneath*  > 
The  sunset  purpled  the  mountain-top,  and  crim 
soned  with  its  deep,  gorgeous  tints  the  broad  Oc 
cident ;  and  as  the  huge  figure  leaned  against  it, 
it  seemed  like  a  mighty  image  cut  from  the  solid 
peak  itself,  and  framed  against  the  sky.  Below 
in  a  thousand  groups  were  gathered,  in  their 
wonted  evening  worship,  that  strange  people  who 
have  left  upon  our  hills  and  prairies  so  many 
monuments  of  their  power,  and  who  yet,  by 
some  mighty  accident,  have  taken  the  trumpet 
out  of  the  hand  of  Fame,  and  closed  for  ever,  as 
regards  their  historical  and  domestic  character,  tho 

1 


BEHEMOTH. 

busy  lips  of  tradition.  Still  we  can  gather 
vaguely,  that  the  Mound-builders  accomplished  a 
career  in  the  West,  corresponding,  though  less 
magnificent  and  imposing,  with  that  which  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  accomplished  in  what  is 
styled  by  courtesy  the  Old  World.  The  hour 
has  been  when  our  own  West  was  thronged  with 
empires. 

Over  that  Archipelago  of  nations  the  Dead 
Sea  of  Time  has  swept  obliviously,  and  subsi 
ding,  hath  left  their  graves  only  the  greener  for 
a  new  people  in  the  present  age  to  build  their 
homes  thereon.  But  at  the  time  whereof  we 
write,  living  thousands  and  ten  thousands  of  these 
ancient  denizens  were  paying  their  homage  to 
their  deity,  and  as  they  turned  their  eyes  in  unison) 
to  bid  their  customary  solemn  adieu  to  the  depart 
ing  sun,  they  beheld  the  huge  shape  of  which  we 
have  spoken.  The  first  feeling  which  arose  in 
their  bosoms  as  they  looked  upon  the  vision  was, 
that  this  was  some  monstrous  prodigy  exhibited 
by  the  powers  of  the  air  or  the  powers  of  dark 
ness  to  astonish  and  awe  them. 

But  as  they  gazed  they  soon  learned  that  it  had 
a  fixed  and  symmetrical  form,  and  possessed  the 
faculty  of  life. 


BEHEMOTH.  O 

When  they  discovered  that  the  huge  apparition 
was  animate  indeed,  a  new  terror  sprang  up  in 
their  soul,  They  gathered  about  their  mounds, 
their  places  of  worship,  and  on  the  plain,  in 
various  and  fearful  groups, 

In  one  spot  were  collected  a  company  of 
priests  and  sages,  the  learned  and  prophetic  of 
the  race,  who  with  Intent  eyes  watched  the 
mighty  spectre ;  and  to  gain  a  clearer  conception 
of  its  proportions,  scanned  its  broad  and  far-cast 
shadow  and  marked  the  altitude  of  the  sun. 
Each  one  searched  his  thoughts  for  some 
knowledge  applicable  to  the  sudden  and  vast  ap 
pearance. 

Not  far  from  this  group  was  drawn  toge- 
ther  a  score  of  women,  who  still  retained 
their  devotional  posture  and  aspect,  but  yet  cast 
ing  side-long  and  timid  glances  towards  each 
other's  countenances  as  if  hoping  to  discover 
there,  an  interpretation  of  the  spectacle.  Chil 
dren  clung  to  their  garments  and  looking  up 
piteously,  seemed  to  ask  "  if  that  was  not  the 
God  whom  they  were  taught  to  fear  and  wor 
ship?"  Each  moment  the  awe  increased  and 
spread ;  from  lip  to  lip  the  story  ran  across  the 
plain  and  through  the  walled  villages  until  the 


4  BEHEMOTH. 

spectre  embraced  in  its  fearful  dominion  a  circuit 
of  many  leagues. 

Bach  moment  conjecture  grew  more  rife  and 
question  more  anxious  and  frequent. 

.  In  the  opinion  of  many  of  the  wisest— for 
even  from  their  souls  superstitious  misgivings 
were  not  wholly  banished — the  apparition  which 
crowned  the  mountain  was  the  Deity  of  the 
nation,  who  had  chosen  to  assume  this  form  as 
the  most  expressive  of  infinite  power  and  terrific 
majesty. 

Other  nobler  spirits,   and    who  drew  their 

knowledge  rather  from  the  intellect  than  the  feel- 

ings,  believed  it  was  the  reappearance  of  a  great 

>  brute  which,  by  its  singular  strength,  in  an  ago 

.     long  past  and  dimly  remembered,  had  wasted  the 

fields  of  their  fathers  and  made  desolate  their 

ancient  dwellings. 

A  tradition  still  lingered  among  them,  that  oi 
that  giant  race,  which  had  been  swept  from  the 
earth  by  some  fearful  catastrophe,  one  still  lived 
and  might,  from  a  remote  and  obscure  lair,  once 
more  corne  forth,  to  shake  the  hills  with  his 
trampling,  and  with  the  shadow  of  his  coming 
darken  the  households  of  nations, 

In  the  more  thoughtful  minds  of  these  theorists 


BEHEMOTH.  5 

the  vivid  and  traditionary  descriptions  of  the 
mighty  herd  of  brutes  which  had  once  tyrannized 
over  the  earth,  had  left  an  impression  deep, 
abiding  and  darkly  colored.  The  memories  of 
their  progenitors  had  handed  them  down  as  a 
Titanic  tribe  of  beings  who,  in  their  day,  excited 
a  terror  which  kindled  human  fear,  and  with 
it,  the  best  growth  of  fear,  human  ingenuity. 
They  remembered  that  in  that  distant  age,  as 
the  history  ran,  a  new  •  a  id  majestic  race  of 
heroes,  moulded  of  Nature's  noblest  clay,  had 
sprung  into  life  to  battle  with  and  finally  van 
quish  these  brute  oppressors  of  their  country. 

Day  faded  fast.  Its  last  streaks  died  away  in 
the  West  and  yet  the  solemn  shap«  stood  there  in 
its  vast,  unmoving  stillness.  Ai?cl  still  the  people 
retained  their  postures  of  wonder  and  fear,  while 
in  hushed  voices  they  spoke  of  the  occupant  of 
the  mountain.  Gray,  cold  twilight  at  length 
cast  its  mantle  upon  the  vision,  and  they  scattered 
in  anxious  parties  towards  their  homes,  But 
with  them  they  bore  the  image  of  the  huge  visi 
tant.  They  could  not  shake  it  from  them. 
A  general  and  deep  awe  had  fallen  on  the  multi 
tude,  and  even  when  they  sought  their  slumbers 
that  giant  shape  passed  before  their  sealed  lids  in 


6  BEHEMOTH. 

a  thousand  forms,  assuming  as  many  attitudes  of 
assault  and  defence ;  for  from  the  first,  by  a 
strange  instinct,  they  had  looked  upon  it  as  their 
foe.  To  watch  'its  movements,  for  it  could  be 
yet  seen,  in  the  clear  distinctness  of  its  immense  . 
stature,  calm,  majestic,  silent;  to  sound  the 
alarm ;  if  need  be  to  meet  it  face  to  face,  should 
it  descend  from  its  pinnacle,  the  chieftains  of  the 
Hound-builders  thought  fit  to  station  armed  sen 
tries  at  various  corners  of  the  streets  and  high* 
ways  of  their  towns  and  oities,on  the  walls  of  their 
fortresses,  and  as  a  more  commanding  position,  on 
the  summit  of  their  mounds  and  in  the  square, 
stone  observatories  which  crowned  a  portion  of 
jj  them. 

The  relics  of  the  fortresses  and  observatories 
that  night  manned  by  the  sentinels  of  that  pecu- 
liar  people,  still  stand  and  moulder  on  the  soil  of 
the  far  west.  They  are  constructed  on  principles 
of  military  science  now  lost  or  inexplicable.(l) 

But,  -whatever  the  code  of  tactics  on  which 
they  were  fashioned,  we  cannot  but  admire,  in 
the  midst  of  our  conjectures^  their  peculiar  sym 
metry,  their  number  and  their  duration*  Paral 
lel  with  the  foundations  of  Rome  these  walls 
went  up,  far  back  ia  the  calendar  of  time,  and 


BEHEMOTH.  7 

time-defying,  they  seem  destined  to  pass  down,  as 
far  from  the  present  into  a  misty  and  pregnant 
future,  as  the  actual  history  of  a  populous  and 
mighty  race.     Like  the  lost  decades  of  Livy, 
some  passages  are  wanting  to  their  completeness, 
but  in  what  stands  we  may  read  the  power,  the 
strength,  the  decay,  and  the  downfall  of  our  own 
American  ancients.    They  were  men  of  war  and 
those  ramparts  first  built  against  a  human  enemy 
were  now  occupied  to  keep  at  bay  a  new  and  un 
tried  foe.    From  time  to  time,  along  the  line  of 
guardsmen  went  the  watchword  ;  the  sentries  of 
different  posts  occasionally  whispering  to  each 
other  that  the  apparition  was  still  visible  on  the 
mountain.     Not  a  few,  overwearied  with  their 
fears,  slumbered. 

The  middle  watch  of  the  night  had  come* 
The  air  was  dark  and  still.  Not  a  breath  nor 
voice  broke  the  universal  quiet :  when,  clear  and 
sharp,  there  fell  upon  the  ears  of  the  sleeping 
populace,  a  sound  like  the  crash  of  sudden 
thunder.  The  earth  shook  as  if  trodden  by 
heavy  footsteps,  and  through  the  air  came  a  noise 
like  the  rushing  of  some  mighty  bulk  in  violence 
and  haste.  Ponderous  hoofs  trampled  the  earth 
and  drew  nigh.  It  was  he— the  traditionary  brute 


8  BEHEMOTH. 

— Behemoth— and    before  his  irresistible  force 
fell    whatever  strove  to  gainsay  his  advance. 
The  whole  region  trembled  as  when  a  vast  body 
of  waters  bursts  its  way  and  rolls  over  the  earth, 
ocean-like,  wave  shouting  to  wave,  and  all  crowd- 
ing  onward  with  thunderous  tumult.  In  vain  was 
the  solid  breast- work ;  the  piled  wall  was  in  vain  j 
in  vain  the  armed  and  watchful  sentry.  Like  some 
stupendous  engine  of  war,  he  bore  down  on  them, 
rendering  human  strength  a  mockery  and  human 
defences  worse  than  useless,  for  as  wall,  bastion 
and  tower  fell,  they  redoubled  death  and  ruin 
on  their  builders.    With  a  speed  of  which  no 
common  celerity  can  give  us  a  conception  he 
/  swept  through   the  towns  and  villages,  the  till- 
/    ed  fields  and  pleasure  gardens  of  the  Mouiid- 
builders — desolating  and  desolate — none  daring 
to  stand  before  his  feet  thus  dreadfully  advanced. 
The  trepidation  of  the  day  grew  an  hundred 
fold  ;  from  the  dark,  dim  light  which  the  stars 
forced  through  the  drifting  and  solid  clouds,  they 
could  but  guess  vaguely  at  his  bulk,  yet  out  of 
their  fears  and  the  darkness  they  wrought  an 
awful  imago  of  vastness  and  strength.     Night 
banded  with  the  monster,  and  terror  walked  in 
their  train. 


BEHEMOTH.  U 

The  morning  dawned,  and  its  light  fell 
upon  the  face  of  an  early  wakened  ard  fear 
stricken  people.  On  every  countenance  was 
graven  the  clear  and  visible  imprint  of  terror ; 
but  the  expression  was  by  no  means  that  of  ordi 
nary  alarm,  such  as  is .  engendered  by  siege,  or 
battle  or  death  ;  nor  did  it  stamp  the  countenance 
with  the  characters  of  a  daily  and  familiar  fear. 

A  dread  which  changed  the  whole  aspect,  such 
as  distorts  the  features  and  takes  from  them  their 
old,  household  look,  was  upon  all.  In  the  con 
sternation  and  imbecility  of  the  moment  messen 
gers  were  speeded  forth  and  hurried  to  and  fro 
through  the  many  villages  of  the  Mound-builders 
bearing  tidings  to  which  us  answer,  they  received 
— the  same  tidings  in  return!  The  visitation 
had  been  universal;  in  each  one  of  their  five 
thousand  villages  were  left  like  marks  of  brute 
ravage  and  strength  !(2) 

Behemoth  had  been  with  them  all;  and  his  largo 
footsteps  were  traced  wide  over  the  plain  until 
they  broke  off  abruptly  at  its  extreme  bounds/ 
and  wheeled  heavily  into  the  mountains.  Wheti 
their  dismay  had  subsided  from  its  first  flood-tide, 
they  began  to  compare  observations  and  consult 
with  each  other.  The  memories  of  most  were 


10  BEHEMOTH* 

bewildered  in  endeavoring  to  recall  the  ocfcur- 
lences  of  the  past  night ;  but  from  what  with 
their  confused  faculties,  they  could  grasp,  they 

were  well  assured  that  the  whole  circuit  of  deso- 

»•  1  • 

lation  had  been  accomplished  within  the  passage 

of  a  single  hour.    And  now  the  time  was  come 
for  them  to  look  forth  and  measure  that  desola 
tion— to  what  side  shall  they  first  turn  ?   Every 
where  is  some  monument  of  that  irresistible 
power.    In  one  brief  hour  he  has  overthrown 
what  Time,  with  his  centuries,  could  not  touch. 
There  at  the  track  of  his  first  foot-prints  is  a 
crushed  wall — driven  through  by  some  powerful, 
and  to  them  as  yet  unknown,  weapon  of  strength, 
which  has  left  its  dints  upon  the  shattered  frag 
ments.     Massive  portions  of  it  have  fallen  to 
powder  beneath  his  weight.    Across  the  path 
which  he  seems  to  have  chosen  out  to  stalk  in 
rude  triumph,  through  the  very  heart  of  their 
dwellings,  lies  a  dead    guardsman   whom  his 
might  must  have  first  dashed  to  the  earth  by 
some  other  unconjectured  instrument  of  power, 
and  then  trampled  upon,  for  at  every  pore  the 
blood  issues  in  torrents.     Against  a  dwelling — 
pinned  to   its  wall — is  the  corpse  of  a  second 
sentinel  which  seems  to  have  been  hurled  with 


BEHEMOTH.  11 

scorn  by  the  brute  invader  into  its  present  abi 
ding-place.  On  the  threshold  of  her  own  home 
lies  a  mother  with  her  child  closely  clinging  to 
her  neck,  its  little  lips  pressed  to  its  parent's — 
both  smitten  into  death  by  a  single  blow. 

Look  forth  from  this  narrow  scene  and  read 
the  map  of  a  broader  ruin — the  traces  of  a  more 
fearful  mastery  !  Yon  mound,  consecrated  by 
the  entombed  dust  of  a  generation  of  sages  am 
heroes  is  embowelled,  and  its  holy  ashes  laid 
open  to  the  vulgar  air  and  the  strumpet  wind. 
And  yon  gardens,  once  the  resort  of  blooming 
beauty  and  gentle  childhood — its  walls  strew  the 
ground  and  its  flowers,  broken  and  withered,  are  \ 
sunken  by  the  massy  weight  which  has  spoiled 
them,  deep  into  the  earth.  And  lo!  that  trodden 
and  miry  field,  shut  in  by  the  standing  fragments  / 
of  two  oblong  walls—yesterday  morn  it  was  a  fair 
greensward  where  strength  wrestled  kindly  with 
strength  and  age  looked  on  approvingly.  In 
another  quarter  behold  a  tall  tower  of  stone  is 
cast  down  before  the  same  incomprehensible 
might !  The  enclosure  which  surrounded  and 
guarded  it  is  battered  to  the  earth,  and  aboiat  it  is 
collected  at  this  morning  hour  not  a  few  of  the 
chiefs  of  the  Mound-builders,  deeply  lamenting  the 


12  BEHEMOTH. 

overthrow  of  so  scientific  and  regular  a  muni* 
meat.  Sad  words  pass  from  each  to  each  and 
they  look  despondingly  into  each  other's  faces, 
and  find  no  hope,  but  rather  a  triumphant 
despair.  From  among  the  group  which  hung 
thus  powerless  and  complaining  over  the  shattered 
battlement  boldly  stood  forth  Bokulla,  the  most 
fearless  and  energetic  chieftain  of  the  nation. 

Bokulla  was  a  man  of  singular  and  prompt  cou 
rage,  of  great  earnestness  of  purpose  and  energy 
of  character ;  yet  modest  and  unobtrusive. 

In  every  enterprise  he  kept  himself  aloof  until 
the  resources  of  all  his  co-laborers  were  exhaust 
ed,  and  then  when  all  eyes  were  turned  towards 
him  as  the  last  star  of  hope,  he  sprang  with 
alacrity  to  the  front,  prepared  to  match  the  emer 
gency  with  some  new  and  vigorous  suggestion. 
Bokulla  was  a  philosopher  no  less  than  a  soldier; 
not  artificially  framed  by  filling  his  mind  with 
learned  apothegms  and  pithy  instances,  but  with 
a  philosophy  which  was  the  growth  of  a  medita 
tive  spirit  that  looked  into  all  things  and  gathered 
wisdom  from  most.  He  possessed,  nevertheless, 
a  thoroughly  martial  and  energetic  mind,  and 
found  in  every  path  of  life,  some  accessory  valu 
able  to  strengthen  and  adorn  that  character.  Un- 


BEHEMOTH.  13 

like,  however,  the  majority  of  professed  militants, 
he  rarely  exhibited  the  gay  buoyancy  which  is 
so  generally  considered  in  them,  an  essential.  On, 
the  contrary,  even  in  the  maddest  onset  and  in  the 
high  flush  of  triumph  his  brow  was  saddened, 
ofttimes  with  a  passing  cloud  of  gloom;  the 
mark  which  distinguishes  too  often  those  who  are 
born  to  be  the  leaders  and  benefactors  of  their  race, 

The  mind  of  Bokulla  partook  of  another  pecur 
iiarity  in  common  with  many  men  of  masterly 
genius.  Whenever  defeated  or  foiled  in  any  at 
tempt,  his  heart  would  be  plunged  for  a  moment 
in  the  deepest  and  most  torturing  despair — but 
only  for  the  moment — and  then  reassuming  its 
lofty  strength  like  an  eagle  unchained  or  slipped 
from  its  darkened  cage,  his  soul  would  spring 
into  the  clear,  broad  sunshine  of  its  former  con 
dition. 

Such  was  Bokulla,  and  when  those  grouped 
around  him  had  each  offered  his  several  remark, 
and  they  had  mutually  mourned  over  the  pre 
sent  desolation,  he  stood  forth  from  their  midst 
and  said,  «  Men !  the  day  is  spent  with  repining, 
and  the  night  comes,  and  with  it,  perchance,  our 
dread  Enemy.  Let  us  rebuild  the  wall  and  show 
at  least  that  we  can  oppose  our  old  strength  to 
2 


14  BEHEMOTH. 

his  inroads.  He  has  but  the  instinct  of  a  brute, 
we  have  the  reason  of  men.  Let  him  not,  he 
cried,  "  let  him  not  find  us,  for  our  soul's  sake, 
let  him  not  find  us  greater  cravens  than  yester 
night  !" 

With  these  words  and  with  the  consent  of  the 
chieftains  who  stood  about  him,  he  ordered  the 
rebuilding  of  the  rampart,  and  the  erection  of  an 
inner  one  to  flank  it.     Before  the  passages  which 
had  been  previously  left  free  of  egress  and  ingress, 
he  directed  the  construction  of  short  and  solid 
walls  which  should  suffice  to  arrest  access  if  made 
;     in  full  front,  leaving  however  side-passages  be 
tween  the  extremities  of  the  main  and  those  of  the 
newly  erected  ramparts.    Under  the  authoritative 
and  cheering  voice  of  Bokulla,  the  building-tool 
and  the  trench  ing-iron  ply  busily.    Parties  of 
laborers  hurry  fromquarter  to  quarter  of  the  work, 
aud  something  like  a  manly  and  worthy  spirit 
seems  again  to  fire  their  bosoms  and  lighten  their 
toil.    While  some  gather  together  the  broken  por 
tions  of  earth  and  remould  them  to  their  purpose, 
others  bring  from  the  distance  new  supplies,  and 
still  others  quarry  and  shape  the  stone  to  crown 
their  summits.    Under  his  quick  and  command- 


BEHEMOTH. 


15 


ing  eye  the  tower  of  observation  goes  up  and  its 
defences  are  restored. 

But,  while  Bokulla  and  his  aids  build  up  the 
strong  wall  to  guard  the  living — is  there  no  duty 
and  service  due  to  the  dead  ?  There  is ;  and 
under  other  guidance  the  manly  forms,  which 
were  laid  in  the  recent  encounter,  are  stretched 
for  their  last  repose. 

Devoted  hands  compose  their  discolored  limbs 
and  bathe  them  with  embalming  drugs,  while 
their  kindred,  those  nearest  and  dearest  in  life, 
collect — to  accompany  them  in  this  their  last 
journey,  whatever  can  consecrate  or  dignify  their 
sepulture.(3)  Those  who  have  fallen  fell  in  the 
defence  of  the  nation,  and  aro  therefore  worthy  of 
the  nation's  honors.  Let  them  be  buried  then  as 
becomes  heroes  of  the  Mound-builders — bearing 
away  with  them  into  the  Unknown  Land  tokens 
of  merit  and  badges  of  high  desert.  Their  bodies 
are  swathed  in  fine  raiment — at  their  right  hand  are 
placed  the  weapons  of  war,  grasping  which  they 
fell ;  at  their  sides  are  arrayed  mirrors  of  glass  or 
metal  (according  to  their  rank)  in  which  they 
were  wont  to  look  for  the  reflection  of  their 
own  martial  features  when  set  for  the  stern  ser 
vice  of  war.  At  their  beads  are  disposed  the 


16  BEHEMOTH. 

helms  which  covered  them  in  the  day  of  battle, 
and  on  their  now  pulseless  breasts  lie  polished 
pieces  of  copper  in  the  form  of  the  crow.(4) 

Can  it  be  possible  that  those  antique  warriors 
were  Christian  men  ?  That,  among  them,  they 
thus  cherished  trophies  of  the  Crucifixion,  and 
upheld  the  ark  of  that  reverend  creed  ?  Or  at 
least  some  stray  fragments  of  the  holy  structure 
obscurely  delivered  over  to  them  by  paternal  or 
patriarchal  hands?  I  know  not,  but  this  is  the 
language  which  their  discovered  relics  speak  to 
us  of  the  present  generation. 

Slowly  from  each  dead  hero's  dwelling  winds 
forth  the  solemn  procession  with  its  weeping  troop 
and  its  religious  mourners.  Gathering  at  a  central 
spot  they  unite  into  one  body,  and  thus  collected, 
take  their  way  towards  the  funeral  mounds.  At 
tendants  send  forth  from  marble  instruments, 
shaped  like  crescents  and  highly  polished,  a  slow 
and  mournful  music.(5)  Beside  the  bier  of  each 
fallen  soldier  walks  his  wife  and  children,  while 
at  its  head  marches  solemnly  the  priest  who,  in 
life  was  his  spiritual  father, 

Winding  through  the  villages — over  tb«  mea« 
dows — and  along  the  stream-side,  they  reach  the 
bank  right  opposite  the  mounds  in  which  the  dead 

• 

' 


BEHEMOTH.  IT 

are  to  find  their  final  slumber.  Descending  into 
the  limpid  and  shallow  stream  the  bearers  gently 
dip  each  corpse  beneath  the  waters — thus  purify* 
ing  it  by  a  natural  sort  of  baptism  from  every 
earthly  grossness,  and  then  they  resume  their 
way — all  following  with  bared  ankles  through  the 
placid  rivulet.  At  length  they  reach  the  sacred 
mound.  At  its  side,  toward  the  East,  the  earth 
is  removed,  arid,  turning  their  faces  to  the  sun, 
while  the  marble  breathes  forth',  a  higher  strain, 
the  bearers  of  the  dead  enter  the  hollowed  mound. 

As  they  enter,  the  throng  chant  together  a 
simple  ballad,  reciting  the  virtues  and  the  valor  of 
the  departed,  and,  at  its  close  recommending  them 
to  the  Giver  of  life  and  the  God  of  the  seasons. 
The  bier  bearers  place  the  mortal  remains  of  the 
heroes  whom  they  have  borne  within  the  cavity, 
upon  the  earth  with  their  faces  upwards,  their 
feet  pointing  to  the  North-east  (perhaps  the  home 
of  their  progenitors)  and  their  heads  toward  the 
more  genial  South-west. 

Thus  were  the  common  soldiers,  among  those 
who  had  fallen  buried :  but  one  of  that  number— 
ho  who  had  been  captain  of  the  guard,  and  a  man 
of  note  among  the  people,  received  separate  and 
more  especial  rites. 


18  BEHEMOTH. 

His  remains  were  borne  apart  to  a  distinct 
mound  and  there — when  they  were  laid  out  with 
the  honors  of  a  chief  who  had  lost  his  life  in  bat 
tle,  martial  music  breathing  from  the  instru 
ments,  and  the  whole  multitude  joining  in  a 
chaunt  commemorative  (like'those  recited  over 
the  common  soldier)  of  his  valor  and  character — 
they  proceeded  to  burn  his  body  and  gather  his 
ashes  into  their  separate  tomb.   They  then  closed 
the  mouths  of  all  the  mounds,  and  when  the 
priests  had  offered  a  prayer  for  the  peaceful  repose 
of  their  dust,  the  multitude  turned  toward  their 
homes. 

All  was  hushed  and  silent  save  the  gentle  tread 
of  the  homeward  tending  people.  The  mourning 
relatives  of  the  dead  had  lulled  into  a  temporary 
calm  their  troublous  feelings,  and  wept  with  com 
posure.  The  spirit  of  peace  was  over  all.  Sud 
denly  a  shrill  voice  was  heard  to  cry, "  He  comes!" 
"  He  comes  /"  It  proceeded  from  a  child,  who, 
unobserved,  had  climbed  to  the  upper  window  of 
one  of  the  stone  observatories.  The  multitude 
were  arrested  by  the  voice,  and  turning  to  the 
quarter  from  which  it  issued,  saw  the  finger  of  the 
alarmist  pointing  to  a  body  of  woods  which  lay 
a  short  distance  West  from  the  path  which  they 


BEHEMOTH.  19 

were  taking  to  their  homes.  As  at  the  bidding  of 
a  god  the  whole  multitude  with  one  accord 
swerved  round  and  gazed  toward  the  foreut,  and 
there  they  beheld — Behemoth.  Fixed  in  en  atti 
tude  of  astonishment  and  dread,  they  stood  gazing 
and  still  gazing  upon  the  spectacle — a  boundless 
and  motionless  gallery  of  laces,  It  was  near  the 
sunset.  Overhead  in  its  level  light,  a  gray  bald 
eagle,  just  flown  from  its  neighboring  eyrie,  hung 
poised  in  wonder,  as  if  turned  to  stone  by  the 
novel  sight  of  so  vast  a  creature,  In  its  motion 
less  suspension  it  seemed  as  if  sculptured  from  the 
air  while  its  wings  were  gilded,  like  some  remains 
of  the  old  statuaries,  by  the  golden  touch  of  the 
sun. 

Visible  above  the  woods,  moving  heavily 
through  the  sea  of  green  leaves,  like  leviathan  in 
the  deep,  appeared  the  dark  and  prodigious  form 
of  the  Mastodon  :  an  awful  ridge  rolling  like  a 
billow,  along  the  tops  of  the  pine  and  cedar  which 
grew  beneath  him.  The  boundless  bulk  moved 
through  the  trembling  verdure,  like  an  island 
which,  in  some  convulsion  of  nature,  shifts 
itself  along  the  surface  of  the  sea.  The  forest 
shook  as  he  advanced,  while  its  scared  and  bar* 


20     ••  BEHEMOTH. 

barons  denizens,  the  prairie  wolf,  the  gopher  and 
the  panther,  skulked  silently  away. 

As  yet  his  whole  mighty  frame  was  not  visible. 
Even  amid  the  trepidation  and  fear  of  the  Mound- 
builders  a  curiosity  sprang  up  to  behold  the  sum 
of  his  vast  proportions :  to  see  at  once  before 
thorn  and  near  at  hand  the  actual  dimensions  of 
that  shape  whose  shadowy  outlines  had,  when 
first  seen,  wrought  in  them  effects  so  boundless 
and  disastrous. 

Occasionally  as  the  Mastodon  glided  along,  a 
green  tree-top  wavered  for  a  moment  in  the  wind, 
leaned  forward  into  the  air — and  fell  to  the  earth 
as  if  pushed  from  its  hold  by  the  chance-exerted 
strength  of  the  groat  brute.  Again,  they  heard  a 
crash,  and  a  giant  oak  which  had  just  now  lorded 
it  over  its  fellows  was  snapped  from  its  stem  and 
cast  fur  forth  over  tho  tops  of  the  forest.  His 
very  breath  stirred  the  leaves  till  they  trembled, 
and  every  step  of  his  march  denoted,  by  some 
natural  appearance,  the  possession  of  monstrous 
and  fearful  power. 

After  stalking  through  a  large  tract  of  wood 
land  without  allowing  any  greater  portion  of  his 
bulk  to  become  apparent,  he  wheeled  through  the 
forest  and  descending  into  a  wooded  valley  disap- 


BEHEMOTH.  2i 

peared,  each  step  reverberating  nlong  the  earth 
with  a  deep  and  hollow  sound.  It  was  a  long 
time  ere  the  Mound-builders  resumed  their  old, 
homeward  progress,  and  when  they  did  it  was 
with  alarmed  and  cheerless  spirits.  The  awe  of 
the  great  shadow  was  upon  them.  Now  more  than 
ever  they  felt  the  folly  of  gainsaying  or  attempting 
to  withstand  a  Power  which  shrouded  itself  in  a 
form  so  vast  and  inaccessible. 

From  that  day  forth  a  gloom  settled  upon  the 
minds  of  the  Mound-builders — deep,  rayless  and 
full  of  fearful  omens ;  for  though  personal  energy 
may  rescue  individuals  from  that  desperate  condi 
tion,  it  is  a  hopeless  and  a  dreadful  thing  when  na 
tions  become  the  victims  of  despair.  All  the 
mighty  wheels  of  life  are  stopped ;  all  the  channels 
through  which  the  soul  of  the  people  once  coursed 
are  now  closed,  and,  in  most  cases,  closed  for  ever. 
The  arteries  through  which  the  life-blood  once 
gushed  are  deadened,  and  the  warm  current  is  ar 
rested  as  if  the  winter  had  descended  upon  it  in  its 
very  spring-tide.  The  Mound-builders  were  now 
fallen  into  that  sad  estate.  Neither  the  spirit-stir 
ring  voice  of  Bokulla ;  nor  the  trump  of  war  ;  nor 
the  memory  of  their  fathers'  fields  or  their  fathers1 
valor,  could  awaken  them  to  a  sense  of  what  was 


22  BEHEMOTH. 

due  to  their  manhood  or  their  duty.    The  Mas* 
todon  seemed  resolved  to  preserve  the  spell  by  an 
almost  perpetual  presence-.    Day  after  day  in  the 
same  gray  twilight  did  Behemoth  cast  his  shadow 
from  the  summit  of  some  near  elevation  ;  and 
midnight  after  midnight,  at  the  same  cold  and 
sullen  hour,  did  he  descend  and  force  his  huge 
bulk  through  the  villages  of  the  Mound-builders : 
breaking  their  walls  in   pieces,  rending  their 
dwellings,  disclosing  their  mounds  and  despoiling 
their  pleasure  gardens  from  end  to  end.    He  had 
become  the  spectral  visitant  of  the  nation; — the 
monstrous  and  inexorable  tyrant  who,  apparently 
gliding  from  the  land  of  shadows,  presented  him 
self  eternally  to  them,  the  destroyer  of  their  race. 
He  seemed,  in  these  terrible  incursions,  to  be  fired 
with  a  mighty  revenge  for  some  unforgiven  inju 
ry  inflicted  on  his  dead  and  extinct  tribe  by  the 
human  family.    In  the  calm  and  solemn  quiet  of 
night,    when  fretted  labor  sought  repose  and 
anxious  thought  craved  slumber,  he  burst  down 
from  the  mountains  like  thunder  and  bade  them — 
"  Sleep  no  more !" 

The  internal  and  external  influence  of  an  ha 
rassment  like  this  could  not  be  otherwise  than 
large  and  disastrous,  First  came  the  dire  change 


BFHEMOTH.  23 

in  the  mind  itself:  when  this  terrible  shadow 
glided  among  its  quiet  emotions,  its  familiar  habits, 
and  its  household  and  national  thoughts.  All 
objects  that  had  hitherto  occupied  a  place  in  the 
mind  of  the  people  now  assumed  a  new  color 
and  complexion  as  this  portent  fell  upon  them, 
in  the  same  manner  as  every  thing  in  nature 
catches  a  portion  of  the  gloom  of  twilight  when  it 
suddenly  approaches.  No  angle  of  the  wide 
realm  of  the  Mound-builders  escaped  from  the 
darkness  of  fear,  and  every  where  the  fountains  of 
social  life  became  stagnant  and  ceased  to  issue  in 
healthy  currents,  like  streams  that  are  silent  and 
still  when  light  has  departed  from  their  surface, 

Tho  voice  of  joy  died  away  into  a  timid  and 
feeble  smiling;  proud  and  stately  ambition  fell 
humbled  to  the  earth,  and  love  and  beauty 
trembled  and  fled  before  the  gloomy  sha 
dow  of  the  general  adversary.  Men  shunned 
each  other  as  if  from  a  consciousness  of  their 
abasement,  and  skulked  away  from  the  face  of 
day,  unwilling  that  the  heavens  should  look  in 
upon  their  desolation  and  shame. 

Some  abandoned  their  homes  and  took  refuge 
in  cliffs  and  inaccessible  precipices ;  preferring 
poverty  and  exposure  to  wind  and  tempest  and 


24  BEHEMOTH. 

hostile  weather,  rather  than  encounter  with  a  foe 
so  dreadful  and  triumphant.  The  great  mass 
however  lingered  in  their  customary  dwellings : 
but  so  thoroughly  was  every  motive  to  action 
numbed  nnd  paralyzed,  they  neglected  to  re 
pair  the  roof  that  had  fallen,  the  beam  that  had 
decayed,  or  the  foundation  that  had  yielded  to 
the  summer's  rain,  and  innumerable  buildings 
throughout  the  whole  realm  tumbled  into  ruin, 
and  many  that  stood  on  the  borders  of  rivers, 
undermined  by  the  motion  of  their  currents,  tottered 
and  fell  into  the  stream,  while  their  terror-stjicken 
inmates,  in  many  cases,  perished  without  a 
struggle. 

The  ordinary  occupations  and  duties  of  life 
were  performed  with  feeble  hands  and  vague 
thoughts,  or  entirely  deserted. 

This  mighty  and  puissant  nation,  whose 
strengtli  was  that  of  a  giant  and  whose  glory 
rivalled^  the  sun,  was  stricken  by  terror  into  a 
feeble  and  child-like  old  age.  All  its  proportions 
were  diminished ;  its  heart  was  shrunk,  and  it 
dragged  on  a  slothful  and  decrepid  existence  amid 
the  cold  and  monumental  ruins  of  what  had  once 
been  its  beautiful  domain  and  its  house  of  honor 
and  joy.  That  salient  and  almost  motiveless 


BEHEMOTH.  28 

energy  which  drives  a  nation  on  through  toils, 
battles  and  discomfitures,  to  prosperity  and  tri 
umph:  that  hazardous  and  all  venturous  daring 
which  pushes  doubt  aside,  and  which,  while  it 
questions  nothing  strives  at  every  thing,  was 
utterly  departed. 

From  the  silence  and  quiet  of  his  studied  retire 
ment,  Bokulla  beheld  the  shadow  as  it  slowly  and 
fearfully  crossed  the  national  mind  ;  from  the  first 
he  saw  the  change  which  was  coming  over  it,  and 
knew  that  human  wisdom  was  too  weak  to  arrest 
or  avert  it,  unless  the  great  first  cause  could  be 
removed.  And  yet,  while  others  yielded  thus 
submissively  to  a  meek  despair,  he,  keeping  him- 
self  invisible  to  the  general  eye,  tasked  his  bold 
and  liberal  mind  for  some  remedy  for  the  eviL 
In  the  calm  and  dead  quiet  of  his  private  chain* 
ber  he  sat  from  day  to  day  brooding  over  plans 
and  enterprises  whereby  to  rescue  the  nation. 

Bokulla  entertained  a  deep  founded  confidence 
in  the  human  character.  Himself  equipped  with 
«n  indomitable  will  and  faculties  stout  and  reso- 
Inte  as  iron,  he  was  assured  that  by  similar  quali 
ties  the  nation  was  to  be  redeemed  from  thraldom. 
Amidst  a  thousand  changes  of  nature  man  had 
endured  *  mountains  had  been  cleft  asunder; 
3 


25  ,  BEHEMOTH. 

seas  had  leaped  upon  continents  and  marched 
triumphantly  over  every  barrier  and  obstacle; 
great  orbs  had  been  extinguished,  like  tapers  of  an 
evening,  in  the  skies ;  yet  man  stood  stead* 
fast  amid  the  shock  and  the  mutation.  Along 
the  bleak  coasts  of  inhospitable  time  he  had 
voyaged  in  a  secure  and  upright  vessel ;  on  this 
ridge  of  earth  he  still  stood  while  the  visible  uni 
verse  passed  through  changes  of  season,  through 
increase  or  diminution  of  splendors,  and  through 
worlds  created  or  worlds  destroyed. 

Was  man,  who  thus  out-lasted  seas,  and  stars, 
and  mountains,  to  be  crushed  at  last  by  mere  bru« 
tul  enginery  and  corporal  strength  ? 

Reflections  like  these  wrought  the  mind  of 
Bokulla  to  a  condition  of  fearless  and  manly 
daring,  and  he  brought  his  whole  soul  to  the  labor 
of  discovering  or  contriving  the  means  of  triumph 
or  resistance.  It  may  well  be  supposed  that  tower 
as  his  thought  might,  it  strove  in  vain  to  over 
top  the  stature  or  master  the  bulk  of  the  Masto. 
don :  what  were  fosses,  and  bastions  and  battle* 
ments  to  him  that  moved  like  a  mountain  against 
opposition.  No  wall  could  shut  him  out :  seas 
might  interpose  in  vain  to  cut  off  his  fearful 
pursuit  of  a  fugitive  people.  Resting  or  in  mo- 


BEHEMOTH.  27 

(ion  that  terrible  and  far-reaching  strength  would 
overtake  them  and  accomplish  ils  purposes  of  de 
solation  and  ruin. 

With  this  stupendous  and  inevitable  image  the 
whole  might  of  Bokulla's  soul  wrestled  for  a  long 
time.  An  untiring  invention  that  kept  steadily 
on  the  wing  started  suggestion  on  suggestion, 
but  all  unequal  to  the  mighty  necessity  of  the 
occasion.  He  gathered  facts  OH  which  to  build 
the  fabric  of  opposition  huge  enough  to  counter 
vail  a  superhuman  force,  but  they  tottered  and 
fell  to  the  earth  before  the  ideal  presence  of  Behe 
moth.  He  surveyed  mountains  and  in  imagina 
tion  linked  them  together  with  wide  arches  and 
empyreal  bridges;  and  compassed  the  people 
round  about  with  rock  built  circumvallations  and 
ramparts  of  insurmountable  altitude  and  strength. 
But  it  would  have  required  ages  to  complete 
the  defences  suggested  by  a  swift  imagination 
which  would  have  been  equal  to  their  object ; 
and  others  which  great  labor  might  have  more 
readily  erected,  would  have  been  swept  away  in  a 
single  night  by  the  barbaric  invader. 

When  this  conclusion  forced  itself  upon  him, 
Bokulla  telt,  for  a  moment,  the  pangs  of  a  hope 
less  and  overwhelming  despair,  A  midnight 


<tar  knesp  eame  over  his  mind,  and  it  wa*  for  a  time 
AS  if  the  sun  and  the  heavens  were  obliterated 
from  his  view,  and  as  if  he  were  doomed  to  travel 
henceforth  a  gloomy  turnpike  where  all  was  sor 
row,  and  wailing,  and  terror  without  end.    But 
the  light  gradually  broke  in  upon  his  soul,  and  his 
palsied  faculties  began  to  awaken  and  cast  off 
the  slumber  and  the  delusion.    His  reflections,  it 
is  true,  had  taught   him  that  his  countrymen 
could  act  in  defence  against  their  vast  oppressor 
with  but  frail  chance  of  success.    He  was  satis 
fied  that  a  weight  and  bulk  as  monstrous  as  that 
of  Behemoth  would  burst  their  way  by  their  mere 
impetuous  motion  through  any  barrier  or  redoubt 
they  might  erect,    There  was  another  tnonght, 
however,  worthy  of  all  consideration — could  not 
the  Mound-builders,  a  naturally  adventurous  and 
valiant  people,  act  on  the  offensive  ?    Abandon 
ing  passive  and  barbarous  suffering,  was  not  bat 
tle  to  be  waged  and  waged  with  hope  against  the 
despoiler?      This    question   Bokulla    had    put 
anxiously  to  himself,    and    he    watched    with 
an  eager  eye  for  some  favorable  phase  of  the  na 
tional  feeling  ere  he  addressed  it  to  the  country, 
From  one  crisis  of  fear  to  another  the  Mound- 
builders  passed  rapidly,  and  as  the  shades  of  night 


BEHEMOTH.  29 

thicken  one  upon  the  other,  each  aspect  of  their 
condition  was  gloomier  than  the  former.     At 
length  as  darkness  deepened  and  strengthened^ 
itself,  light  began  to  dawn  in  the  opposite  quar 
ter.    Hardened  by  custom,  and  familiar  in  a> 
measure  with  the  object  of  their  dread,  they  now'" 
ventured  to  lift  their  pale,  white  countenances 
and  gaze  with  some  steadiness  of  vision  upon  the 
foe. 

Naturally  of  a  noble  character  and  constitution, 
the  Mound-builders  needed  only  that  the  original 
elements  of  their  temper  should  be  stirred  by 
some  powerful  conviction  to  excite  them  to  ac 
tion.^)  A  new  spirit,or  rather  the  ghost  of  the  old 
and  exiled  one,  had  returned  to  the  nation,  and 
they  now  saw  before  them,  unless  they  resumed 
their  manhood  and  generously  exerted  strength 
and  council,  ages  of  desolation  and  fear  for  them 
selves  and  their  children.  Were  they  men  and 
should  no  hazard  be  dared,  no  toil  nor  peril  en 
countered  to  break  the  massive  despotism  that 
held  them  to  the  earth  ?  Were  they  the  posses- 
sors  of  a  land  of  sublime  and  wonderful  aspects) 
the  dwellers  amid  interminable  woods' and  lakes 
of  living  water,  and  were  no  glorious  nor  resolute 
3" 


3Q  UKUEMOTH. 

energies  matured  by  these,  capable  to  cope  with 
that  which  was  mighty  and  awful  ? 

At  this  fortunate  stage  of  feeling;  Bokulla  ap 
peared.  He  clothed  the  thoughts  of  the  people 
in  an  eloquence  of  his  own.  He  first  painted  thfe 
portrait,  of  t[ieir  past  condition  in  life-like  and 
startling  colors.  He  told  them  that  from  the  ap 
parent  size  and  solidity  of  the  Mastodon,  and  the 
uniform  analogy  of  nature  he  might  endure  for 
centuries,  yea,  even  beyond  the  duration  of  man 
kind  itself,  unless  his  endless  desolation  could  be 
arrested.  If  theysutfered  now  under  his  irresistible 
sway  they  might  suffer  for  a  thousand  years  to 
/  come.  That  vast  frame,  he  feared,  decay  could 
.'  not  touch.  And  in  a  stature  so  tremendous 
must  reside  an  energy  and  stubbornness  of  pur-, 
pose,  endurable  and  unchanging. 

Next,  addressing  them  from  the  summit  of  a 
mound,  around  which  many  of  the  people 
were  grouped  in  their  old  worship  (some 
faint  image  of  which  they  had  kept  up  through 
all  their  terror)  he  appealed  to  them  by  the  sacred 
and  inviolate  ashes  that  rested  underneath  his  feet. 
If  old  warriors  and  generous  champions,  never 
dishonored,  could  awaken  from  the  slumbers  of 
death  and  breathe  again  the  pure  air  of  that  glo- 


BEHEMOTH.  31 

rious  clime,  what  voice  of  denunciation  or  anger 
would  they  utter ! 

"  Are  these  men,  that  creep  along  the  earth, 
like  the  pale  shadows  of  autumn,  Mound-builders 
and  children  of  our  loius?  "What  hath  affright 
ed  them  ?  Look  to  the  mountains,  and  lo !  an  in 
ferior  creature,  one  of  the  servants  and  hirelings 
of  man,  hath  the  mastery.  Arouse!  arouse!  ' 
our  sons !  Place  in  our  old,  death-withered  hands 
tho.  swords  we  once  wielded— crown  us  with  our 
familiar  helms  and  we  will  wage  the  battle  for 
you.  Victory  to  the  builders  of  the  mounds? 
victory  to  the  lords  and  masters  of  the  earth) 
should  be  our  cry  of  or  set  and  triumph  !" 

The  national  pulse  beat  true  again,  and  Bo- 
kulla  hastened  from  village  to  village,  quickening 
and  firing  it.  Every  where  the  hour  of  renova 
tion  seemed  to  have  come.  Every  where  ascend 
ing  their  high  places  he  appealed  to  them  by  me 
mories  to  which  they  could  not  but  hearken. 
Every  where  an  immense  populace  gathered 
about  him  and  listened  to  his  words  as  if  they 
were  the  inspired  language  of  hope.  And  wheiv 
their  souls  were  fired,  as  it  were,  under  the  fer- 
vent  heat  of  his  eloquence,  he  skilfully  moulded 
ihena  to  hi*  own  plan  aad  purpose.  He  recounted 


32  BEHEMOTH. 

to  them  the  mode,  the  time  and  course  he  thought 
fit    for  them  to  adopt  in  seeking  battle*  with 

Behemoth. 
After  consultation  with  their  chieftains,  the 

levy  expected  und  demanded  of  each  was  soon 
settled. 

They  were  to  venture  forth  with  an  army 
(easily  collected  in  that  populous  nation)  of  one 
hundred  thousand  strong.      Bokulla  was  to  be 
the  leader-in-chief.     Approved  men  were  to  be 
his  counsel  and  aids.     The  day  of  setting  forth 
on  the  great  campaign  was  fixed  ;  not  far  distant. 
In  the  mean  time,  nil  diligence  and  labor  were  to 
be  employed  in  disciplining,  equipping,  and  in 
spiriting  the  troops:   in  burnishing  and  framing 
the  necessary  armor,  and  in  constructing  certain 
new  engines  of  war,  which  Bokulla  had  invented, 
and  which  might  be  of  use  in  the  encounter 
with  the  terrible  foe. 

Every  village  now  presented  a  picture  of  busy 
preparation  and  warlike  bustle.  The  forges, 
whose  fires  had  smouldered  in  long  disuse,  were 
again  rekindled,  and  their  anvils  rang  with  the 
noise  of  a  thousand  hammers  rivalling  each  other 
in  the  skill  with  which  they  moulded  the  metals 
into  heroic  shapes.  While  one  wrought  out  with 


BEHEMOTH.  83 

ready  dexterity  the  breast-plate,  with  its  large, 
circular  bosses  of  silver,  another,  with  equal,  but 
less  costly  felicity,  framed  the  brazen  hatchet,  and 
the  steel  arrow-head.  In  every  workshop  there 
were  employed  artizans  in  sufficient  number  to 
not  only  begin  with  the  rude  ore  and  shape  it  into 
form,  but  also  to  carry  it  through  every  stage  of 
labor— tipping  it  with  silver — burnishing—orna 
menting — completing  them, — affixing  leathern^ 
handles  to  the  bosses  by  which  to  grasp  and  vi- 
hold  the  shield,  and  arranging  them  in  due  order 
for  inspection  by  the  appointed  officers.(T) 

At  another  and  higher  class  of  laboratories  they,   V 
were  employed  in  framing  and  fashioning  wea 
pons  for  chieftains  and  warriors  of  note;  swords      i 
of  tempered  steel  and  scabbards  of  silver,  capped 
with  points  of  other  and  less  penetrable  material : 
and  helmets  of  copper  and  shields,  with  orna 
mental    and    heraldic    devices.      Some    busied 
themselves  in  furnishing  large  shields  of  brass, 
which  they  polished  with  care  until  they  glittered 
again— while  still  farther  on,  they  wrought  out 
large  bows  of  steel,  from  which  to  speed  the 
barbed  arrows  prepared  by  their  fellow-workmen. 
Farther  up,  near  the  mountain-side,  there  lay  a       { 
range  of  shops  in  which  a  thousand  operatives 


84  BEHEMOTH. 

constructed  military  wagons  and  other  Vehicles 
for  the  expedition;  for  they  knew  not  how  far  it 
might  extend,  nor  through  what  variety  of  hill 
and  dale. 

To  the  right  of  these  were  gathered  artizana 
under  the  immediate  superintendence  of  the 
commander-in -chief,  who  labored  at  certain  vast 
and  new  engines  of  battle,  more  especially  con- 
trived  for  conflict  with  the  vast  Brute.  These 
were  large  and  ponderous  wooden  structures, 
something  like  tho  towers  used  in  Roman  war 
fare,  hut,  as  the  strength  and  stature  of  the  foe 
/  required,  of  far  greater  height  and  stiffness. 

They  were  to  be  planted  on  heavy  wheels  and 
of  great  circumference — placed  far  apart,  so  as  to 
furnish  for  the  whole  edifice  a  broad  and  iramove- 
able  base.  On  the  outer  side,  they  were  armed 
with  every  sort  of  sharp-edged  weapon,  cutlass, 
falchion,  and  spearhead,  so  as  to  be,  if  possible, 
unassailable  by  Behemoth.  Internally,  they  were 
furnished  with  great  store  of  vast  bows  and  poison 
ed  shafts,  with  which,  if  such  thing  might  be,  to 
pierce  him  in  some  vulnerable  point,  or  at  least  to 
gall  him  sorely  and  drive  him  at  a  distance.  Be 
sides  these  there  were  suspended,  in  copious  abun 
dance,  divers  ingenious  implements,  each  con- 


BEHEMOTH,  35 

trived  for  some  emergency  of  battle,  to  strike,  to 
ward,  to  wound,  and  to  destroy. 

Others  were  building,  taller  and  stronger,  at 
the  summits  of  which  were  suspended  great  mas 
ses  of  metal  and  ponderous  hammers,  tons  in 
weight,  with  which  to  wage  a  dreadful  battery 
against  the  mighty  foe.  By  some  internal  machine* 
ry,  it  was  so  contrived  that  these  solid  weights 
of  metal  could  be  swung  to  and  fro  with  fearfu) 
swiftness  and  violence,  by  the  application  of  a 
small  and  apparently  inadequate  power.  Another 
structure,  like  these,  was  prepared,  from  which  to 
cast,  by  means  of  capacious  instruments,  large 
quantities  of  molten  metals,  kept  in  fusion  by 
mighty  furnaces,  to  be  hurled  upon  the  enemy 
from  afar,  and  to  descend  upon  him  in  sulphur* 
ous  and  deadly  showers,  like  those  which  fell  on 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  of  old. 

Day  and  night,  night  even  to  its  middle  watches, 
were  devoted  to  the  construction  and  fabrication 
of  engines  and  implements  like  these :  for  theii 
minds  were  now  so  anchored  on  this  great  enter* 
prise,  that  all  other  ties  were  cast  loose,  and  in 
this  alone  they  embarked  every  thought  and  pur* 
pose.  The  hours  hitherto  given  to  repose  and 


36  BEHEMOTH. 

Bleep,  were  now  made  vassal*  to  the  new  adven 
ture. 

It  was  »  magnificent  spectacle  to  see  a  whole 
nation  thus  gathered  under  the  dark  wing  of  the 
midnight,  working  out  battle  for  their  dread  ad 
versary.  Athwart  the  solid  darkness  which 
pressed  upon  their  dwellings,  the  gleams  of  swar 
thy  labor  shot  long  and  frequent.  Far  through 
the  hills  echoed  the  clangor  of  armorers,  and 
the  sharp  sounds  of  multitudinous  toil,  labor 
ing,  each  in  its  kind,  toward  the  redemption  of  a 
people. 

Grouped  thus  about  their  forges,  and  hurrying 
from  one  task  to  another  with  rapid  and  quiet 
tread,  they  might  have  seemed  to  the  eye  of 
imagination,  looking  down  from  the  neighbor 
ing  heights,  to  be  employed  in  infernal  labor, 
and  vexing  the  noon  of  night  with  unearthly  and 
Satanic  cares. 

But  over  the  wide  scene  there  rested  a  blessing, 
for  the  srnile  of  Heaven  always  shines  upon  the 
oppressed  who  nobly  yearn  and  vigorously  strive 
to  break  their  chains.  The  long  and  bright 
hours  of  day,  too,  were  crowded  with  their  pecu 
liar  duties.  The  gardens  and  the  enclosed  plains, 
again  restored  to  their  old  symmetry  and  beauty, 


BEHEMOTH.  37 

were  now  filled  with  a  soldiery  which,  under  the 
eye  of  dexterous  leaders,  were  drilled,  deployed, 
marshalled,  and  schooled  into  new  manoeuvres, 
before  this  unknown  in  the  wars  of  the  Mound- 
builders,  and  adapted  to  the  character  of  trwir 
unwonted  antagonist.     They  were    taught   to 
wheel  with  novel  evolutions,  to  retreat  in  less 
orderly  but  more  evasive  movements  and  marches 
than  of  old,  and  to  attack  with  a  wariness  nud 
caution  hitherto  unpractised  in  their  encounters 
with  mortal  enemies.    Over  all  the  eye  of  Bo- 
kulla  glanced,  giving  system  to  the  orders  of  the 
chieftains,  and  confidence  to  the  obedience  of 
their  legions.    Apparently  performing  duty  no 
where,  he  fulfilled  it  every  where,  with  a  calm 
and  masterly  skill,  which,  while  it  was  unobserved 
by  the  careless,  was  an  object  of  admiration  to 
the  higher  order  of  men,  who  were  made  the 
immediate  channels  of  his  influence,  and  who 
were  therefore  brought  more  directly  under  the 
*pell, 

"  Upon  my  soul,"  cried  the  taller  of  two  offi 
cers,  who  stood  near  the  trunk  of  a  withered 
cedar,  which  overshadowed  a  wide  and  deep  sunk 
en  well!,  looking  upon  one  of  these  novel  parade?, 
<'  upon  my  sou),  BokulUi  hath  the  power  and  the 
4 


98  BEHEMOTH. 

knowledge  of  a  God.  Out  of  these  men,  but 
yesterday  dumb  and  torpid  with. fear,  he  has 
struck  the  spirit  of  life,  arid  that  with  the  same 
ease  as  my  sword-blade  strikes  from  this  dull 
stone  at  my  foot,  sparks  of  fire." 

""Who  can  withstand  those  giant  machines 
which  tower  yonder,  like  mountains,  above  'our 
dwellings?"  cried  his  corrjanion.  "The  Spirit 
of  Evil  himself,  if  en  bodied  in  the  frame  of  the 
Brute,  must  full  before  those  whirlwind  hammers 
of  brass  aud  tempests  of  molten  copper !" 

"While  he  spoke,  one  of  the  vast  oaken  struc 
tures  hud  been  \\hrelcd  out,  arid  its  ponderous 
enginery  set  in  motion,  and  brought  to  tear  upon 
a  crag  that  projected  from  the  mountain  near 
which  it  rested.  To  nnd  fro  they  swung  with 
fearful  force  and  velocity,  at  each  blow  shattering 
vast  masses  from  the  rock,  nnd  bringing  them 
headlong  down  the  mountain.  At  the  some  time, 
not  far  distant,  tons  of  crude  ore  were  cast  into 
the  furnaces,  affixed  to  the  other  towers, and  hurl 
ed  forth  upon  the  prairie  in  clouds  of  fire,  which, 
as  they  fell  upon  the  earth,  scathed  and  withered 
eyery  thing  before  them. 

Although  the  multitude  entertained  hearts  oi 
favor  and  hope  towards  the  project  of  meeting 


BEHEMOTH,  39 

Behemoth  in  battle,  there  were  a  few  who  doubt* 
od  its  wisdom  and  foreboded  a  gloomy  result. 

"  The  dinging  of  those  anvils,"  said  an  nged 
man  who  sat  at  the  sunset  in  the  front  of  his 
dwelling,  to  his  spouse  (no  less  stricken  in  years), 
who  leaned  out  at  the  window,  "  the  dinging  of 
yon  anvils  is  to  my  ears  a  mere  death-dirge* 
Wherefore  are  the  youth  of  our  land  to  be  led 
forth  on  this  vain  pilgrimage?  They  are  fore 
doomed  by  the  hooting  of  the  owl,  which  has 
been  ceaseless  in  our  woods  sinco  first  it  was 
planned.  The  dismal  bat  and  the  brown  vulture 
flap  their  wings  over  our  bright  day-marshal  lings 
in  expectancy  of  a  banquet." 

"  And  as  for  the  chieftain,  Bokulla,"  continued 
his  wife,  prolonging  the  dolorous  strain  of  conver- 
sation,  "  his  defeat,  if  not  death,  is  already  doomed 
in  Heaven.  The  star  which  fell  but  yesternight 
luridly  athwart  his  dwelling,  foretold  that  sequel 
too  well.  And  his  spouse,  stumbled  she  not  essay 
ing  but  this  morning  to  cross  its  threshold  and 
grcottho  norm-return  of  ibkiilla  from  the  distant 
villages  ?" 

"  This  army,  five  score  thousand  in  numbers/* 
reiterated  the  old  man, "  will  be  but  as  the  snow  in 
the  whirlwind  before  the  breath  of  Behemoth 


40  BEHEMOTH. 

They  have  forgotten,  senseless -men  !  the  story  of 
our  fathers.  They  recollect  not  how  in  ancient 
days  the  fellow  of  this  vast  Brute  (perchanc  ethis 
living  one  himself)  was  met  by  onr  hunters  in  the 
mountain  gorge :  that  his  roar  was  like  thunder 
near  at  hand,  and  his  tread  like  the  invasion  of 
waters !  that  they  shrunk  before  him  into  the 
hollows  of  the  rocks  as  the  white  cloud  scatters 
before  the  sun  !"(8) 

11 1  pray  Heaven  the  wife  of  Bokulla  be  not  wi 
dowed,"  echoed  his  spouse.  "The  chieftain  is  a 
bold  man,  and  submits  but  poorly  to  the  lording 
of  any,  be  it  man  or  brute." 

"1  .fear  this  spirit  pricks  him  on  too  far  in 
this  emprise;  I  have  warned  him  secretly," 
concluded  the  old  mound -builder,  in  a  deep  and 
solemn  tone  of  voice ;  "  I  have  warned  him,  but 
he  scorns  my  warning.  He  will  not  be  stayed  in 
his  purpose.  1  will  warn  him  yet  once  more,  for 
he  dreams  not  that  he  goes  out  to  war  with  one 
who  is  a  giant  in  instinct  as  well  as  in  strength  I" 
.  The  eventful  morning  of  going  forth  against  the 
Mastodon  came :  it  was  a  morning  bright  with 
beautiful  auspices.  The  sky  overhead  glittered  with 
its  fresh  and  airy  splendors  :  no  cloud  dimmed  tho 
world  of  indescribable  blue  which  hung  calm  and 


BEHEMOTH.  41 

motionless  like  heaven  itself  on  high.  Occasion 
ally  against  its  clear  canvass  a  passing  troop  of 
wild-fowl  painted  their  forms,  and  vanished  ;  or, 
a  tree-top  here  and  there  stood  out,  pencilled  upon 
it,  with  its  branches  and  foliage  all  distinct.  The 
sun  rode  just  over  the  horizon,  and  through  the 
innumerable  villages  of  the  Mound-builders  the 
martial  trumpet  sounded  the  spirit-stirring  alarum. 
At  the  call,  one  hundred  thousand  right-good 
men  of  battle  seized  their  arms  and  marched 
through  the  territory  of  their  brethren  in  solid 
array, 

First  at  the  head  of  the  van,  drawn  in  a  two^ 
wheeled  chariot  of  wood,  studded  with  iron  and 
ornamented  with  an  eagle  at  each  of  its  four  points, 
front  and  rear,  and  drawn  by  a  single  powerful 
and  jet-black  bison,  came  Bokulla  himself.  He 
stood  erect  in  the  vehicle,  while  his  burnished  ar 
mor  and  towering  helm  flung  their  splendor  far 
and  wide  ;  in  his  hand  he  held  no  rein  but  guided 
the  noble  beast  by  his  mere  intonations  of  voice*' 

Behind  Bokulla  followed  a  company  of  men-at- 
arms,  each  bearing  a  long  and  stalwart  club, 
armed  at  its  heavier  extremity  with  a  four-edged 
sword  or  falchion,  to  the  point  of  which  was  af. 
fixed  a  spear-like  weapon  stiff  and  keen.  Of  these 


42  BEHEMOTH. 

there  were  one  hundred,  each  cosed  in  a  mail  of 
elk-skin,  which,  while  it  wns  flexible  and  yielded 
to  every  gesture  of  the  body,  was  yet  a  sufficient 
defence  against  any  ordinary  assault.     These 
were  expected,  beside  guarding  and  sustaining 
Bokulla,  to  close  with  Behemoth,  and  taking  ad 
vantage  of  the  unwieldy  motion  of  his  frame,  to 
wound  his  legs  or  otherwise  annoy  and  disable 
him.     Behind  these  followed  an  equal  phalanx  of 
spear-men,  whose  allotted  duty  it  was  with  a  long 
er  weapon  to  probe  the  Brute  at  a  distance,  and  • 
draw  his  attention  from  any  quarter  to  which  it 
might  appear  directed  with  too  much  vigor  and 
chance  of  danger.     Jn>  the  rear  of  the  company  of 
spear-men-  marched  a  strong  body  of  common  sol 
diers,  bearing  the  customary  Mound-buildersMn- 
atruments  of  war,  namely,  vast  steel  bows  six  feel 
or  more  in  length,  and  quivers  fiHed  with  corres 
pondent  shafts  tipped  with  poisons,  and  on  their 
led  arms  bearing  the  usual  shield  of  copper  with 
bosses  of  silver.    In  the  rear  of  these  heavily 
rolled  on  two  of  those  newly-invented  machines, 
which  rose  like  pyramids  above  the  array.    These 
were  drawn  by  scores  of  yoked  bisons,  and  dri 
ven  forward  by  private  soldiers  who  walked  at 
their  sides.    The  earth  shook  under  their  Jura- 


BEHEMOTH.  43 

bering  weight.     Their  -bowels  were  filled  with 
captains  and  privates  who  had  charge,  each  in 
his  station,  of  their  implements  of  death.    Follow 
ing  those,  in  order,  inarched  a  numerous  squad 
ron,  sustaining  over  their  sinewy  shoulders  heavy 
axes  of  steel  with  edges  sharp  as  death,  and  han 
dles  of  immoveable  oak.     Drawn  by  a  thousand 
bensts  of  burthen,  behind  these,  came  innumera 
ble  provision  and  baggago  wagons,  provided  for 
the  emergency  of  a  protracted  search  for  the  ene 
my,  and  long  delay  in  vanquishing  and  destroy 
ing  him.    These  were  accompanied  with  troops 
and  officers.    Behind  these  walked  countless  va 
rieties  of  battle  :  soldiers,  the  very  conception  of 
whose  armor  and  weapons  is  lost  in  the  oblivious 
and  mouldering  past.     Rearmost  came  six  other 
towers  bearing  their  immense  hammers  and  fiery 
furnaces,  with  ten  thousand  troops  to  guard,  to 
guide  them ;  to  select  even  roads  for  their  pro* 
gress,  and  last  to  wield  their  vast  forces  in  the 
hour  of  conflict. 

Over  the  whole  floated  a  hundred  bright  and 
emblematic  pennons,  while  the  sonorous  metal  kept 
time  to  their  waving  folds  as  the  morning  wind 
dallied  them  to  and  fro.  It  was  a  glorious  thing 
to  see  ten  times  tea  thousand  thus  equipped  and 


44  BEHEMOTH. 

embattled  going  forth  on  that  gay  morning)  to 
the  war. 

"Wherever  their  course  lay  it  was  thronged 
with  the  multitude  pushing  to  gain  n  sight  of 
Bokulla  and  his  compeers,  the  solid  soldiery  and 
the  stupendous  structures.  Every  window  was 
filled,  every  elevation  seized  on,  every  housetop 
covered  by  spectators  straining;  their  vision  to  ga 
ther  in  ev^ry  appointment  and  device,  banner  and 
sword,  bison,  chieftain  and  all.  Ah  !  well  might 
their  eyes  ache  to  look  upon  that  numerous  chi 
valry  !  Well  might  they  hang  with  lingering 
gaze  upon  the  fair  cheeks  of  that  youthful  array  ! 
Well  might  their  hearts  keep  time  with  the  on 
ward  steps  of  that  glorious  host !  Happy  is  it 
for  mortals  that  they  can  enjoy  the  pageant  of  the 
present,  and  have  no  power  to  prefigure  in  it  the 
funeral  procession  and  the  mournful  company 
into  which  the  future  may  change  it ! 

As  the  foot  of  the  last  soldier  left  the  territory 
of  the  Mound-builders,  the  drums  and  trumpets 
sounded  a  farewell,  and  the  army,  taking  the  right 
bank  of  a  rapid  stream  which  ran  due  West,  pur- 
sued  its  march.  The  ground  over  which  their 
course  lay  was  a  smooth  and  pleasant  green 
sward,  the  verdure  of  which  was  still  wet  with 


BEHEMOTH.  45 

the  dews  of  tho  night.  Occasionally  it  rose  into 
a  gentle  elevation  which,  for  the  first  few  miles, 
brought  the  advancing  army  once  again  in  sight 
of  the  expectant  gazers  who  still  kept  their  posts 
upon  housetop,  tower  and  mound.  At  length 
from  one  of  these  eminences  they  descended  into 
a  valley  which  bore  them  altogether  from  the  view 
of  the  most  favorably-stationed  looker-out.  And 
yet,  even  when  their  banners  and  tall  structures 
had  passed  wholly  from  the  sight,  gushes  of 
music,  fainter  and  fainter  at  each  note,  reached 
their  ears,  and  reverberated  from  the  neighboring 
cliffs  and  hill-sides. 

Onward  they  passed  through  the  long  vale 
which  stretched  before  them,  choosing  out  the 
clearest  paths,  and  still  keeping  their  march  toward 
the  Occident.  In  selecting  this  route  they  were 
guided  by  large  tracks  which  appeared  at  remote 
strides  in  the  earth;'  and  by  frequent  signs  of  do« 
vastation — fallen  trees  and  crushed  underwood. 

Ouce  they  came  to  a  river  of  great  width, 
on  the  near  margin  of  which,  at  the  water's 
edge,  appeared  two  large  foot-prints,  while  on 
the  opposite  bank  were  discovered  indentations 
equally  vast  but  impressed  deeper  in  the  soil, 
as  if  the  monstrous  Beast  had  reared  on  his 


46  BEHEMOTH. 

hindermost  feet  and  with  supernatural  strength 
and  agility  thrown  himself  across  the  intervening 
breadth  of  waters.  As  there  were  no  bridges 
near  at  hand  they  were  forced  to  compass  the 
river  by  a  circuitous  route  to  regain  the  tracks 
which  had  been  espied  on  the  other  bank. 

After  attaining  the  utter  extremity  of  the  vale, 
through  which  the  stream  in  question  poured  its 
tide,  they  pursued  their  chosen  way  into  a  thick 
wood,  the  path  of  the  Mastodon  through  which 
seemed  to  have  been  created  by  sweeping  before 
him,  with  a  flexible  power,  whatever  obstructed 
his  progress.    On  every  side  of  the  huge  gap 
into  which  the  army  now  entered,  lay  prostrate 
trees    of  greatest    magnitude;    oak,  pine  and 
sycamore.    Some,  apparently,  had  been  cast  en 
high,  and,  descending  into  the  neighboring  for 
est,  left  their  roots  naked  in  the  air,  unnaturally 
inverted  and  exposed.    And  yet,  save  in  the  im 
mediate  path  of   the  Desolutor,  nature  smiled 
unalarmed  and  innocent,  in  its  primeval  and  vir 
gin  beauty.    Here  and  there,  shone  out  in  the 
forest  bright  green  patches,  rising  often  into  gen 
tle  slopes,  or  softening  away  iiito  vales  as  gen 
tle.     Frequently  the  upland  was  crowned  with 
groups  of  small  trees,  and  the  vales  were  tesse- 


BEHEMOTH*  47 

lated  with  sweet  wild-flowers.  Then  they 
crossed  babbling  brooks  and  rivulets,  which  ran 
across  their  march  with  a  melodious  murmur, 
eloquent  with  reproaches  on  the  warlike  task  they 
were  at  present  pursuing.  Again,  a  large  stream, 
which  had  gathered  volume  from  the  neighboring 
motmfnins,  come  rushing  down  declivities,  and 
seemed  to  shout  them  on  to  battle. 

At  times,  in  the  course  of  this  variegated 
march,  they  fell  upon  open  spaces  where,  for  a 
small  circuit,  no  tree  was  to  be  seen  ;  rich  mea 
dows,  the  chosen  pastures  of  the  wild  beings  of 
the  prairies,  pranked  with  red  nnd  white  clover, 
and  fragrant  as  the  rose,  in  their  unmown  fresh 
ness. 

Sometimes  they  passed  through  sudden  and 
narrow  defiles,  overhung  by  frowning  cliffs  and 
clothed  with  a  dank  verdure  which  seemed 
to  be  the  growth  of  a  century.  One  gorge,  in 
particular,  of  this  kind,  they  encountered  whose 
beetling  rocks  in  their  dark  and  regular  gran- 
deur,  looked  as  if  they  might  have  been  wrought 
out  by  the  hands  of  the  old  Cyclops  or  "  Pelas- 
gians  strange."  They  seemed  to  be  the  solemn 
halls  of  u  great  race  which  had  its  seat  of  em- 
pire  there  (beyond  even  the  age  of  the  Mound- 


49  BEHEMOTH. 

builders)  and  chambered  in  its  tabernacles  of  ever* 
lasting  stone.  But  Nature  alone  built  these  halls 
for  herself,  arid  through  them  toward  the  West 
she  walks  at  the  twilight  and  morning  hour  in 
pomp  and  majesty.  I  see  her,  her  skirts  purpled 
with  evening,  and  flowing  forth  in  the  fresh 
breezes  of  that  untainted  clime,  now  pacing  those 
mighty  avenues  and  recalling,  in  their  awful  still 
ness,  the  nations  which  slumber  at  her  feet.  Her 
face  brightens  like  a  sun,  as  she  meditates  over  the 
empires  which  have  faded  fromearih  into  thedust 
beneath  her  ;  she  thinks  and  kindles  in  knowing 
and  remembering  that  while  man  is  mortal  and 
psrisheth,  she  is  eternal  arid  thrones  with  God. 

The  glittering  and  long-extended  host  of  the 
Mound-builders  marched  on  through  this  cliff- 
walled  passage,  and  passed  next  from  all  glimpse 
of  the  sun  into  douse  and  almost  impervious 
woods  ;  impervious  but  for  the  way  hewn  out  by 
the  mighty  Pioneer  in  whose  tracks  they  conti 
nued  to  tread.  Gloom,  with  its  midnight  wings, 
sate  on  high  and  brooded  over  the  boundless 
thicket. 

The  very  leaves  seemed  dipped  in  a  deeper 
hue  of  green,  and  the  grass  was  thick  and  matted 
underneath,  as  if  in  that  desolate  region  it  clung 


BEHEMOTH.  49 

closer  to  the  earth.    Above  stood  in  their  ancient 
stillness  (apparently  unbroken  for  ages)  the  tall, 
sombre  trees,  while  about  their  trunks  venerable 
ivies  and  mosses  clung  desperately,  and  mounted 
far  up  toward  their  topmost  branches.    Athwart 
the  solid  darkness  no  wing,  save  that  of  a  melan 
choly  owl  or  bat,  clove  and  furnished  to  the  tene 
brous  realm  the  sign  of  life  or  motion.    On  the 
earth  no  living  thing  was  to  be  seen,  unless  amid 
the  dank  grass  an  occasional  toad  or  serpent,  sit 
ting  or  coiled  on  the  cold  stone.    And  yet,  though 
life  seemed  extinct,  or  exhibited  itself  only  in  rep 
tile  and  hateful  forms,  the  Mound-builders,  as  they 
marched  on  through  the  gloomy  quiet,  in  pursuit  • 
of  their  mighty  prey,  saw,  in  the  dimly  discovered 
foot-marks  which  they  still  followed,  a  token  of 
vast  and  inexplicable  power  which  deepened  the 
darkness  about  them  and  infused  a  portion  of  its 
weird  influence  into  their  souls.    And  yet  with 
purpose  unshaken,  they  advanced.    Again  the 
blessed  sunshine  greeted  them,  and  the  low  mist 
I  rolled  heavily  from  their  minds — and  again  their 
I  purpose  stood  out  to  their  inward  eye  clear  and 
|  determinate. 

Emerging  from  the  awful  woods  they  came  to 
a  broad  prairie  across  which  the  large  foot-steps 


50  BEHEMOTH. 

were  deeply  visible.   On  every  side,  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach,  the  ample  plain  was  desert  and 
unoccupied.    The  innumerable  herds  of  bison 
which  had  once  been  its  tenantry  had  now,  before 
the  terror  of  Behemoth,  fled  away,  and   the 
wild  wolf,  which  once  lurked  amid  the  rank 
grass,  skulked  from  a  Power  which  seemed  to 
overshadow  the  earth.   Still  there  was  a  province 
of  animated  nature  into  which  the,alarm  scarcely 
ascended :  for  on  high,  as  in  the  quiet  and  fear 
less  hours  of  earlier  times,  the  brown  vulture  and 
the  bald  eagle  flew,  silently  sailing  on,  or  sending 
through  the  air  their  shrill  notes  of  ecstacy  and 
rapture.     The  boundlessness  of  those  mighty 
meadows  was  in  itself  calculated  to  strike  an  awe 
through  the  bosom  of  the  advancing  army ;  be 
fore  it  they  lay — the  Map  of  the  Infinite :  a  vast 
table  on  which,  as  on  the  tables  of  stone  the  fin 
gers  of  an  omnipotent    had  written  Majesty, 
Power  and  Eternity.    Contemplations  like  these 
were  sufficient  in  themselves  to  fill  the  mind 
of  the  armed  host  with  feelings  of  awe  and  hu 
mility,  but  when,  over  the  immense  prairie,  they 
saw  evidences  that  something  had  passed  which 
for  the  moment  rivalled  Deity  ;  more  palpable  in 
its  manifestations,  nearer  in  its  visible  strength, 


BEHEMOTH.  51 

and  less  merciful  in  its  might ;  when  the  tracks 
about  them  and  the  desert  solitude  which  Behe 
moth  had  created  became  thus  clearly,  apparent, 
they  shrunk  within  themselves  and  doubted  the 
wisdom  of  their  present  enterprise. 

This  feeling  however  reigned  but  for  a  moment 
More  manly  and  martial  thoughts  soon  took  their 
place,  and  they  pressed  on  in  the  path  pointed  out 
with  alacrity  and  courage.  The  verge  of  the 
plain,  which  they  had  now  reached,  bordered  on 
a  long  and  high  ridge  of  mountains,  which 
stretched  from  the  margin  of  the  prairie  far  West. 
Upon  these  summits  they  now  advanced.  Ar 
rayed  in  broad  and  solid  columns  the  army 
moved  on  over  the  mighty  causeway,  their  trum 
pets  filling  the  air  with  novel  music ;  while  the 
echo  of  their  martial  step§,  sounding  through  the 
wilderness,  affrighted  Silence  from  his  ancient 
throne.  Against  the  clear  sky  their  bright  ban 
ners  flaunted,  and  high  up  into  the  heaven  as 
pired  the  warlike  tower  flashing  death  from  every 
point.  The  gleam  of  ten  thousand  swords 
streamed  from  those  broad  heights  far  into  the 
depths  of  air — above,  around,  below— lighting 
the  solitude  like  "  a  new-risen  sun." 

The  pride  of  war  now  truly  kindled  their 


52  BEHEMOTH. 

breasts — fear  skulked  aside  from  their  heroic  way, 

and  Death,  could  he  have  come  forth  a  personal 

being,  on  those  clear  summits,  as  their  pulses 

•  freshened  in  treading  them,  would  have  been  no 

-  .phantom. 

Through  the  ranks  a  soldierly  joy  prevailed, 
and  with  the  rousing  drum  their  spirits  beat  high, 

They  had  reached  the  extreme  limit  of  the 
mountain  ridge,  and  were  preparing  to  descend 
into  the  plain  which  broadened  at  its  foot,  when, 
afar  off,  they  espied,  slowly  heaving  itself  to  and 
fro  in  the  ocean,  which  sparkled  in  the  mid-day 
sun  beyond  the  plain,  a  vast  body  which  soon 
shaped  itself  to  their  vision  into  the  form  of 
Behemoth. 

The  army  halted  and  stood  gazing.  The 
giant  beast  seemed  to  be  sporting  with  the  ocean. 
For  a  moment  he  plunged  into  it,  and  swim 
ming  out  a  league  with  his  head  and  lithe  pro 
boscis1  reared  above  the  waters,  spouted  forth  a 
sea  of1  bright,  blue  fluid  toward  the  sky,  ascend 
ing  tot  the  very  cloud,  which,  returning,  brightened 
into  innumerable  rainbows,  large  and  small,  and 
spanned  the  ocean.  Again  he  cast  his  huge  bulk 
along  the  main,  and  lay  "  floating  many  a  rood" 
in  the  soft  middle  sun,  basking  in  its  ray  and 


BEHEMOTH.  53 

presenting  in  the  grandeur  and  vastness  of  his 
repose,  a  monumental  image  of  Eternal  Quiet. 
Bronze  nor  marble  have  ever  been  wrought  into 
sculpture  as  grand  and  sublime  as  the  motionless 
shape  of  that  mighty  Brute  resting  on  the  sea. 

Even  at  the  remote  distance  from  which  they 
viewed  him  they  could  catch  at  times  through 
the  ocean-spray,  the  sparkle  of  his  small  and 
burning  eye.    Once,  it  seemed  for  a  moment 
steadily  fixed  upon  their  host  as  it  stood  out  con 
spicuously  on  the  height,  and,  abandoning  his 
gambols,  Behemoth  urged  his  bulky  frame  toward 
the  land.    Breasting  the  mighty  surges  which  his 
own  motion  created,  he  sought  the  shore,  and  as 
he  came  up  majestically  from  the  water,  a  chasm 
ensued  as  if  the  Pacific  shrunk  from  its  limits. 
With  a  gurgling  tumult  the  subsiding  waves  rush 
ed  into  the  broad  hollow,  and  continued  to  eddy 
about  its  vortex. 

Meantime  Behemoth  stood  upon  the  earth, 
and  rearing  on  his  hindmost  feet  his  fore 
most  were  lifted  high  in  the  air,  and  with  a 
roar  loud  and  fearful  (like  the  gathering  of  an 
earthquake  with  its  powers  of  desolation  in  thj 
bowels  of  the  earth)  he  brought  them  to  the  plain 
with  a  weight  and  energy  which  made  it  tremble 


54  BEHEMOTH. 

to  its  utmost  verge.  He  moved  on;  making 
straight  toward  the  army  of  the  Mound-builders. 
To  the  eyes  of  the  astonished  host,  as  he  shouted 
with  his  fearful  voiee,  he  seemed  like  a  dread 
thunder  cloud  which  gathers  tone  and  volume  as 
it  rolls  on  assaulting  with  its  hollow  peals  the  very 
walls  of  Heaven.  Bokulla  was  undismayed  and 
calm.  He  saw  that  the  hour  for  action  had  arriv 
ed,  and  marshalling  his  tro5ps  in  proper  order, 
he  led  them  down  a  winding  and  gentle  slope 
which  descended  to  the  plain.  A  short  time 
sufficed  and  they  reached  the  level  ground.  Dis 
posing  themselves  in  the  preconcerted  order,  they 
awaited  the  on-coming  of  Behemoth.  The  tow 
ers  were  planted  firm  on  the  earth  ;  the  pioneers 
put  forth  and  the  instrumental  sounds  began. 
As  an  additional  thought  a  battalion  of  troops 
was  placed  on  a  level  ledge  of  rocks,  on  the  side 
of  the  mountain,  and  in  advance  of  the  main 
army,  to  gall  him  as  he  passed. 

On  his  part  there  was  no  delay  :  with  strides, 
like  those  of  goda,  he  stalked  forward.  And  still 
he  seemed,  to  the  Mound-builders,  to  grow  with 
his  advance.  His  bulk  dilated,  until  it  came  be 
tween  them  and  heaven,  and  filled  the  whole  cir 
cuit  of  the  sky.  The  firmament  seemed  to  rest 


BEHEMOTH.  .         55 

upon  his  wide  shoulders  as  a  mantle.  As  he  near- 
ed  upon  their  view,  they  saw  more  of  his  structure 
and  properties.  His  fnce  was  like  a  vast  coun 
tenance  cut  in  stone,  hewn  from  the  hard  granite 
of  the  mountain-side,  with  features  large  as  those 
of  the  Egyptian  sphinx.  Before  him  he  bore- 
terrible  instruments  of  power  !  a  mighty  and 
lithe  trunk,  which,  with  swift  skill,  he  coiled  and 
darted  through  the  air,  like  a  monstrous  serpent, 
instinct  with  poison  and  death.  Guarding  the 
trunk  were  two  far  extending  tusks,  which  curv 
ed  and  flashed  in  the  sun  like  scimitars.  Over 
his  huger  proportions  fear  cast  its  shadow,  and 
they  saw  them  as  through  a  cloud  darkly.  He 
moved  forward,  nevertheless,  a  vast  machine  of 
war,  containing  in  himself  all  the  muniments  and 
defences  of  a  well-appointed  host.  To  the  cool  and 
courageous  sagacity  of  the  leader  he  seemed  to  join 
the  strength  and  fojce  of  an  embattled  soldiery : 
to  sharp  and  ready  weapons  of  offence  he  added 
the  defence  of  a  huge  and  impenetrable  frame. 
Through  his  small  and  flaming  orbs,  his  soul 
shot  forth  in  flashes  dark  and  desperate.  His 
neck  was  ridged  with  a  short  and  stiff  mane, 
which  lent  an  additional  terror  to  his  bulk. 
On  he  came.  He  neared  the  host  of  the 


50        »  BEHEMOTH. 

Mound-builders.    His  fearful  trunk  was  uplifted, 
and  his  tusks  glanced  in  the  broad  beam  of  day 
over  the  heads  of  the  army.    Not  a  sword  left  its 
scabbaro\    Not  an  arrow  was  pointed.    The  bra 
zen  hammers  and  vessels  of  molten  copper,  which 
had  alone  been  raised,  fell  back  to  their  places, 
powerless  and  ineffective.    The  palsy  of  fear  was 
upon  the  whole  host.    The  near  and  unexpected 
vastness  of  Behemoth  awed  their  souls.   Bokulla 
alone  retained  his  self-possession,  and  shouted  to 
the  affrighted  squadrons:   "Onward!   Mound- 
builders — cheer  up,  and  onward  !  the  battle  may 
yet  be  with  us  !"    It  was  in  vain.    The  vast  pro 
boscis  descended,  and  crushed  with  its  descent  a 
whole  phalanx.    A  second  sweep,  and  the  mighty 
wooden  towers,  with  their  hammers  of  brass, 
their  molten  copper,  and  their  indwelling  defen 
ders,  were  hurled  on  high,  and  rushing  to  the 
earth,  strewed  the  plain  with  their  wreck. 

Ten  thousand  perished  under  his  feet  as  he 
trampled  onward.  Ten  thousand  fell  stricken  to 
the  earth  by  th<a  mere  icy  bolt  of  fear.  The 
legion,  stationed  on  the  level  ledge,  were  swept 
from  their  post,  as  the  whirlwind  sweeps  the 
dust  from  the  autumn  leaf.  Twice  ten  thousand 
..  and  more  fled  up  the  mountain  ;  across  the  prai» 


BEHEMOTH.  57 

rics ;  and  some,  in  their  extreme  of  trepidation, 
sought  shelter  in  the  sea.  With  infinite  ruin  the 
main  host  lay  scattered  upon  the  prairie,  shield, 
sword,  bow,  wagon,  wagoner,  spearsman,  and 
pioneer.  Over  the  plain,  maddened  by  terror,  the 
bisons,  with  their  vehicles,  following  in  clattering 
haste,  galloped,  they  knew  not  whither.  Of  a  \ 
body  of  about  fifteen  thousand  men,  Bokulla,  col 
lected  as  ever,  took  command,  and  marshalling 
them  through  a  narrow  defile,  led  them  up  the  ^ 
mountain,  from  which  the  whole  army  had  a  few  J 
hours  before  descended  in  pomp  and  glory.  Guid 
ing  them  along  the  ridge  by  new  and  well  chosen 
paths,  he  hurried  them  forward.  In  the  mean 
time  Behemoth  had  perfected  his  work  upon  the 
squadrons  which  -were  left.  When  the  task  of 
death  and  ruin  was  completed,  he  stood  in  the 
middle  of  the  wreck,  and,  gazing  about,  seemed 
to  seek  for  some  portion  of  the  host  on  \rhom 
desolation  was  yet  to  be  wrought.  With  saga 
cious  instinct  he  soon  discovered  the  path 
which  the  missing  legions  had  taken.  Instantly 
abandoning  the  plain,  he  pressed  toward  the 
gap  through  which  the  retreating  troops  had 
fled. 
Rushing  through  the  defile,  he  was  soon  stand- 


58  BEHEMOTH. 

ing  on  the  steps  of  Bokulla  and  his  flying  troops. 
Through  each  narrow  pass  of  rocks  the  chief 
tain  skilfully  guided  them,  taking  advantage  of 
every  object  that  might  be  an  obstacle  to  the  mon 
strous  frame  of  their  pursuer.    Sometimes  they 
mounted  a  sudden  ascent,  sometimes  hastened 
through  a  narrow  vale,  or  around  a  clump  of 
mighty  sycamores  and  cotton-woods.    Neverthe 
less  Behemoth  pressed  on.    Behind  them,  terrible 
as  the  voice  of  death,  they  heard  his  resounding 
roar,  and  turned  pale  with  affright.    They  had 
reached  the  crown  of  a  hill,  and  were  compassing 
a  tall  rock,  which  stood  in  their  way,  to  descend, 
when  they  heard  heavy,  trampling  steps  behind 
them,  and  looking  back,  they  beheld  the  ponder 
ous  bulk  of  the  Mastodon  urging  rapidly  up  the 
ascent.     Trepidation    fastened    on    the   ranks. 
Their  knees  smote  together,  and  rrany,  in  the 
weakness  of  sudden  fear,  fell  quaking  to  the 
earth.    Some,  in  their  alarm,  cast  themselves 
headlong  from  the  height  j  some  escaped  into  the 
neighboring  woods,  and  two  or  three,  bereft  of 
sense  by  terror,  fled  into  the  very  jaws  of  the 
huge  beast  himself.    A  small  band  only  kept  on 
their  way  with  Bokulla. 

Surging  up  the  steep,  and  down  the  oppo- 


BEHEMOTH.  69 

site  descent,  Behemoth  pushed  forward,  tram 
pling  to  the  earth  those  who  stood  rooted  in 
his  path-— statues  of  despair — and  was  soon  at 
the  rear  of  the  small  flying  troop. 

He  was  at  the  very  heels  of  the  pale  fugitives  j 
and  Bokulla,  placing  a  trumpet  at  his  lips,  blew 
a  long,  loud,  and  what,  in  the  hour  of  battle 
and  under  other  auspices,  would  have  been  an 
inspiriting  blast,  and  endeavored  to  arouse  in  them 
sufficient  spirit  and  strength  to  bear  them  to  the 
shelter  of  a  gigantic  crag  which  stood  in  their 
path.    Past  this  the  velocity  and  impetus  of  the 
brute  would  inevitably  force  him,  and  they  might 
rest  for  a  moment  while  he  rushed  down  and  re- 
ascended  (if  re-ascend  he  should)  the  declivity. 
The  attempt  was  successless:  the  trumpet-blast, 
vainly  blown,  was  borne  far  away  into  the  for 
ests,  and,  echoing  from  cliff  to  cliff,  seemed  only 
to  awaken  the  idle  air. 

From  Bokulla,  one  by  one,  his  followers 
fell  off,  and  perished  by  Behemoth,  or  crept 
into  the  grass  and  underwood  to  die  a 
more  lingering  death.  JkiJength  the  chief 
tain  was  alone  before  his  mighty  pursuer.  And 
yet  he  "  bated  not  a  jot  of  heert  or  hope,  but 
still  bore  up  and  steered  right  onward,"  With 


60  BEHEMOTH. 

the  emergency  his  courage,  resolution,  and  fore 
thought  rose. 

He  kept  his  way  steadily,  and  the  bison  which 
drew  him  nobly  seconded  his  purpose,  and  ex 
hibited,  as  if  inspired  by  the  greatness  of  the 
occasion,  the  power  of  reason  in  comprehending, 
and  a  giant's  strength  in  carrying  out,  the  most 
expedient  means  for  the  rescue  of  his  master's 
person.  He  seemed  to  apprehend  every  direction 
of  Bokulla's  at  a  thought.  «  To  the  right— be 
tween  yon  stout  oaks  !  To  the  left — onward— 
Bokulla  is  at  your  mercy!"  shouted  the  rider, 
and  they  swept  along  like  the  prophet  and  his 
chariot  of  fire.— The  night  had  gradually  conie 
on.  Palpable  twilight  now  overspread  the  scene, 
and,  in  a  moment,  the  moon  glided  to  her  sta-- 
tioti  in  the  zenith. 

The  woods  tn  rough  which  Bokulla  passed 
were  now  filled  with  shadows,  which  crossing 
and  blending  with  each  other,  would  have  con 
fused  mere  human  skill  in  selecting  a  path  ;  but 
the  bison  dexterously  steered  on.  With  cum 
brous  but  swift  steps  Behemoth  still  pursued, 
over  hills,  vales,  mountains. 

At  length  Bokulla  reached  that  very  summit 
where  first  the  gigantic  Phantom  had  appeared 


BEHEMOTH.  6i 

and  where  the  impress  of  his  steps  was  yet  clear 
ly  led.    He  had  just  commenced  his  descent  to 
ward  the  villages  of  the  Mound-builders,  (thou 
sands  of  whom  looked  toward  his  chariot  as  he 
sounded  another  peal  on  his  trumpet)  and  Behe 
moth  stood  behind  him.      The  mighty  brute, 
from  some  unconjecturable  motive,  paused.    He 
saw  the  chariot  of  Bokulla  rapidly  verging  to 
ward  its  home.  He  abandoned  the  pursuit,  but  yet 
yielded  not  his  purpose  of  destroying  the  last  of 
the  army  of  the  Mound-builders ;  for,  loosening 
from  its  base  a  massy  rock,  which  hung  threat 
ening  over  the  village,  he  lifted  it  with  his  tnsks 
nnd  pushing  it  forward,  urged  it  with  tremendous 
force  directly  in  the  career  of  the  chieftain.  Thun 
dering  it  followed  him.    It  neared  his  chariot, 
Another  turn  and  Bokulla  is  crushed :  but  the 
Mound-builders  shout  in  one  voice  <(  To  the  right, 
Bokulla !  to  the  right !"  and  turning  his  chariot 
in  that  direction,  he  escapes  the  descending  ruin, 
though   enveloped    in    the   dust   of  its   track. 
Emerging  quickly  from  the  cloud,  and  avoiding 
the  rocky  mass,  which  rushed  past  him  with 
terrible  fury,  Bokulla  now  reached  the  bottom  of 
the  mountain,  and  was  surrounded  instantly  by 
innumerable  Mound-builders,  each  with  a  fearful 


63  BEHEMOTH. 

question  on  his  lips,  and  the  dread  of  a  yet  more 
fearful  answer  written  in  his  countenance.  Bo- 
kulla,  alone  and  in  flight,  was  a  reply  to  all  their 
thoughts  could  imagine  or  dread  of  what  was 
terrible.  Gazing  upon  him  for  a  while  in  mo 
tionless  silence,  they  at  length  burst  the  stupor 
which  made  them  dumb,  and  each  one  asked  for 
husband,  brother,  son,-r-who  had  gone  forth  but 
a  few  days  since,  full  of  life  and  vigor,  against 
Behemoth.  "  Death — defeat — and  flight !"  were 
all  that  escaped  from  Bokulla,  and,  breaking  his 
way  through  the  multitude,  he  sought  his  own 
home,  Gathering  about  the  house  of  the  chief 
tain,  men,  women  and  children,  in  large  crowds, 
they  cried  out  through  the  live-long  night,  while 
their  tears  fell  for  their  relatives  who  had  ven 
tured  to  the  battle,  and  asked  wherefore  they  came 
not  back  ? 

The  next  day,  about  noon,  there  rushed  into 
the  village,  covered  with  foam  and  quaking  with 
fear,  troops  of  bison,  followed  by  the  frame 
work  on  which  the  towers  and  machines  of  war 
had  been  raised,  and  clattering  through  the 
streets  with  their  enormous  arid  lumbering  wheels 
till  they  reached  their  stalls— they  fell  dead.  To 
some  of  them  a  handful  of  men  clung  tenaciously, 


BEHEMOTH.  63 

though  pale  and  terror-stricken,  and  to  the  rear 
of  one  hung  by  his  feet,  which  were  entangled 
in  the  leathern  strap  that  had  bound  the  frame 
together,  a  lifeless  body,  the  skull  of  which  was 
broken  by  rude  and  hasty  contact  with  the  earth, 
while  the  tufts  of  hair  which  remained,  were 
matted  with  grass,  thorns  and  mire,  gathered  as 
it  was  drawn  swiftly  along  through  the  different 
varieties  of  verdure,  marsh,  and  brambles. 

The  next  day  after  that,  at  about  night-fall, 
there  came  down  the  mountains  which  Bokulla 
had  descended  under  circumstances  of  so  much 
peril,  a  lean  and  tattered  company,  marshalled 
forward  by  the  ghost-like  figure  of  a  chieftain, 
with  a  broken  helm,  husky  voice,  and  swordless 
scabbard.  They  were  a  portion  of  the  army 
which  had  gone  forth  with  Bokulla,  and  had  been 
reduced  to  their  present  pale  and  ragged  condi 
tion  partly  by  fear  and  partly  by  the  want  of  food 
for  the  two  days  during  which  they  had  wander 
ed  in  search  of  home.  Many  a  wife  and  mother 
shed  tears  of  mingled  gratitude  and  pity  as  she 
looked  upon  the  shattered  wreck  of  her  son  or 
husband,  thus  cast  up  from  the  waves  of  war* 
Two  or  three  days  after  this,  and  day  by  day,  for 
some  week  or  two,  came  into  the  villages  of  the 


64  BEHEMOTH. 

Mound-builders,  single  fugitives, or  in  pairs,  when 
they  had  coupled  themselves  together,  that  in 
this  sorrowful  fellowship,  they  might  aid  each 
other  in  bearing  up  against  terror,  hunger  and 
death. 

And  even  after  a  month  had  rolled  round,  and 
tears  had  been  shed  and  rites  performed  for  the 
absentees,  two  or  three  strayed  home  lunatic; 
poor  idiots,  whose  brains  had  been  crazed  by  the 
triple  assault  of  fear,  famine,  and  the  dread  of  in 
stant  death  under  the  hoofs  of  the  enemy.  From 
the  account  that  could  be  gathered  from  their 
own  wandering  and  confused  wits,  they  had  fled 
every  inch  of  the  way  from  the  battle-ground 
under  the  terrible  apprehension  that  Behemoth 
was  at  their  heels.  Through  brake  and  through 
briar  they  had  hastened ;  they  had  scrambled 
over  rocks  and  waded  wide  ponds :  they  had 
climbed  trees  and  rested  a  little, and  then  swinging 
themselves  from  the  branches,  had  run  miles  over 
hot  and  streamless  prairies,  until  they  had  reached 
their  native  villages,  sad,  witless  idiots  t 

The  catastrophe  now  stood  out  before  the 
Mound-builders,  drawn  in  bold,  strong  and  fear 
ful  strokes ;  painted  in  colors  borrowed  from  the 
midnight,  and  dashed  upon  the  canvass  (it  almost 


BEHEMOTH.  65 


seemed)  by  the  hand  of  destiny  itself.  _The  ma 
lignant  planet  which  had  so  long  lowered  in  the 
atmosphere,  had  now  burst,  and  poured  from  its 
womb  all  that  was  dreadful,  pernicious  and  en* 
during.  The  earth  was  now  to  them  a  cold, 
comfortless  prison,  into  which  they  were  plunged 
by  an  inexorable  power,  and  where  they  were 
doomed  to  drag  through  tHeir  allotted  portion  of 
life,  under  the  eye  of  an  eternal  and  terrible  foe  j 
joyless,  hopeless  and  prostrate.,  The  multitude 
gave  themselves  to  a  quiet  and  passionless  despair. 
Bokulla  was  silent  or  invisible. 

Great  occasions  beget  great  men,  but  what  is 
singular  and  rarely  noted,  they  have  also  a  ten 
dency  to  nurse  into  life  a  swarm  of  petty  spirits, 
which  take  the  opportunity,  uninvited,  to  push 
themselves  into  prominent  posts.  Thus  the  same 
emergency  which  elicited  the  resources  of  Bokul- 
la's  large  and  fruitful  mind,  also,  drew  out  the 
vagaries  and  absurdities  of  a  puny  intellect, 
Kluckhatch  by  name.  On  account  of  his  dwarf 
ish  size  and  an  unlucky  curvature  in  the  legs, 
this  valorous  gentleman  had  been  rejected  from 
the  military  companies.  Nevertheless  he  kept  a 
drum  on  his  own  account,  with  which  he  was 
wont  to  regale  a  rabble  crowd  of  urchins  and 
6* 


66  BEHEMOTH. 

maidens ;  making  a  monthly  tour  through  the 
villages  and   refreshing  them  with  the  dulcet 
sounds.    He  also  wore  in  this  itinerant  and  vo 
lunteer  soldiery  of  his  a  small  sword ;  a  bright 
pyramidal  blade  of  steel  with  a  handle  of  elk's 
horn,  the  tip  of  which  was  surmounted  with  a 
clasp  or  circlet  of  silver  and  ornamented  with 
the  device  of  an  owl  hooting.    The  person  of 
Kluckhatch  was,  as  I  have  hinted,  pigraean  rather 
than  otherwise.    He  had  a  low  forehead  with 
prominent  cheek  bones,  and  a  broad  full-moon 
face  with  large  eyes,  in  which  idiocy  and  self-con 
ceit  predominated,  though  they  were  occasional 
ly  enlivened  with  an  expression  of  mirth  and 
good-fellowship,  and  sometimes  even  brightened 
with  a  humorous  conception.    On  the  crown  of 
his  head,  to  complete  his  garniture,  Kluckhatch 
bore  a  cap  of  conical  figure,  with  a  flattened  cir 
cular  Bummitj-entling  at  the  apex  with  a  round 
button  of  copper.  Attached  to  the  sides  of  the  cap 
were  two  large  ear-flaps  of  deer-skin,  or  that  of 
some  other  indigenous  animal,  made  to  cover 
ears  as  large. 

« I  believe,"  said  this  self-constituted  champion, 
when  every  plan  suggested  and  acted  upon  had 
proved  fruitless,  "I  believe,"  said  he,  "/must 


BEHEMOTH.  67 

take  this  huge  blusterer  in  hand.  I  look  for  a 
mound  of  the  largest  size  at  least  for  my  memory 
if  I  lay  him  at  length,  and  a  patent  of  nobility  for 
my  family.  Kluckhatch  is  no  fool — is  he?" 
asked  the  vainglorious  militant,  turning  with 
cocked  eye  to  a  shock-headed  youth  who  stood 
gaping  at  his  elbow.  •  The  boy  replied  with  a 
similar  squint,  and  Kluckhatch  ran  on,  detailing  at 
length,  like  a  crafty  plotter,  the  whole  course  of 
strategy  he  intended  to  put  in  practice  against 
Behemoth,  naming  the  time  when,  arid  the  place 
where,  he  expected  to  achieve  his  capture  at  least, 
if  not  his  death. 

In  accordance  with  this  carefully  matured  plot, 
one  bright  and  cold  autumn  morning  Kluckhatch 
sallied  forth  accoutred  to  a  point  with  dagger,  hat 
and  sword-belt,  to  which  was  attached  special 
ministrant  in  the  anticipated  capture,  his  little 
drum,  with  the  melodious  sounds  of  which  he  ex* 
peeled  to  quell  and  mollify  the  mighty  rage  of 
Behemoth.  Over  his  right  shoulder  he  bore  a 
light  ladder  of  pine  of  great  length,  with  which 
he  intended  to  mount  to  Behemoth's  neck  and  in 
flict  the  fatal  wound  with  his  trenchant  blade. 

Thus  armed  and  accoutred  Kluckhatch  set 
forth.  Fortunately  on  the  morning  which  he 


68  BEHEMOTH. 

chose  for  his  adventure,  the  Mastodon  was  not 
far  off  but  pastured  in  a  broad  open  meadow 
within  sight  of  the    Mound-builders'   villages. 
When  Kluckhatch  first  beheld  him  opening  and 
closing  his  mighty  jaws  as  he  cropped  the  tall 
verdure,  his  soul  trembled  within  him  and  vi 
brated  to  and  fro,  like  a  mariner's  needle,  between 
the  determination  to  retreat  and  that  to  advance. 
At  length  however  it  settled  down  true  to  its  pur 
pose.   He  marched  forward  beating  a  reveille"  on 
his  dwarfish  drum,  while  he  whistled  faintly  as 
an  accompaniment.     He  was  now  within  stone's 
throw  of  tho  monster.    He  had  lowered  the  lad 
der  from  his  shoulder,  that  he  might  be  better 
prepared  to  scale  the  sides  of  the  Beast.    Behe 
moth  ceased  from  the  labor  of  feeding  ;  a  moment 
his  eye  twinkled  on  the  puissant  Kluckhatch,  and 
the  next,  unrolling  his  trunk,  he  coiled  it  about 
the  slender  body  of  the  adventurer,  and  lifting 
hint  gently  from  the  earth,  as  gently  tossed  him 
sonic  score  of  yards  into  a  neighboring  pond, 
which  was  about  five  feet  deep,  and  mantled  with 
a  covering  of  stagnant  water.     Into  this  Kluck 
hatch  descended  and  fell  amid  a  noisy  company  of 
large  green  bull-frogs  who  were  holding  a  meeting 
for  general  consultation  and  the  expression  of 


BEHEMOTH.  69 

opinion.  Amid  the  blustering  assembly  the 
valiant  little  hero  fell.  For  a  time,  as  he  hung 
balanced  in  the  air,  it  was  doubtful  which 
portion  of  his  person  would  first  penetrate  the 
water. 

The  levity  of  his  head  and  the  weight  of  his 
splay-feet,  at  length  brought  the  latter  first  to  the 
pool,  and  dividing  the  stagnant  surface,  they  sank 
through  and  reached  a  bottom  of  mud ;  still  they 
sank  and  continued  to  settle  down  deeper  and 
deeper,    Kluckhatch  knew  not  where  his  descent 
would  stop,  nor  where  in  the  end  he  might  arrive. 
His  feet  at  last  found  support  just  as  his  chin 
reached  the  waters'  edge,  and,  looking  up,  the  first 
object  which  fell  upon  his  vision  was  a  house, 
hold  of  venerable  and  contemplative  crows  who, 
seated  on  a  dry  tree  at  the  edge  of  the  pool, 
seemed  to  be  philosophizing  over  his  mishaps, 
in  their  most  doleful  discords.     One,  an  old 
rake,  with  only  an   eye  left  in  his  head,    ap 
peared  to  Kluckhatch,  as  he  leered  knowing- 
y  upon  him,  to  be  a  desperate  quiz.     When, 
after  many  vain  efforts,  he  had  brought  his  scat 
tered  senses  into  something  like  order,  reaching 
forth  one  hand  he  grasped  his  drum,  which 
floated  at  a  distance  on  the  pool,  and  held  it  up 


70  BEHEMOTH. 

tremblingly,  while  with  the  other  he  drew  from 
his  belt  a  drum-stick  which  survived  hie  fall. 
Stretching  out  the  hand  that  held  the  stick,  he 
struck  up  a  faint  tatoo  on  the  parchment,  with  the 
double  purpose  of  driving  off  those  accursed  and 
hard-hearted  crows,  and  also  to  draw  help  from 
the  nearest  village.  To  the  instrumental  sounds 
thus  elicited  he  added  a  humble  vocal  effort. 
Here  was  a  scene  for  a  painter :  Kluckhatch,  the 
drum,  and  the  crows,  all  in  unison,  running 
down  the  scale  from  lofty  bass  to  shrill  treble. 

The  hero  soon  tired  of  his  toilsome  essays  at 
the  two  kinds  of  music  under  his  charge,  and  put 
ting  forth  all  his  strength  in  a  desperate  venture, 
he  succeeded,  scrambling,  floundering,  and  pad 
dling,  in  reaching  the  shore  endued  in  a  coat-of- 
mail,  composed  of  black  slime  and  green  ooze, 
with  long  locks  of  eel-grass  dangling  at  his  heela, 
as  trophies  of  his  exploit.  Satisfied  with  this 
valorous  attempt  at  the  capture  of  the  "huge 
blusterer,"  Kluckhatch  skulked  home. 

Some  two  months  more  had  passed  when  a  new 
enterprise  was  set  on  foot  by  a  desperate  band,  un 
der  the  control  of  two  or  three  daring  and  reck 
less  leaders.  Their  daring,  however,  was  not 
the  fruit  of  experience,  for  they  had  not  been  out 
with  the  army  against  the  fearful  enemy. 


BEHEMOTH,  71 

The  Mastodon,  with  that  attachment  to  particu 
lar  scenes  and  localities,  which  even  the  brute  che 
rishes  to  a  certain  degree  in  common  with  man, 
had  been  observed  to  exhibit  a  fondness  for  one 
spot,  which  seemed  to  be  dearer  to  his  mighty 
spirit  than  all  others.    It  was  a  wide  plain,  in 
whose  centre  grew  a  few  tall  elm  trees,   where 
Behemoth,  through  the  oppressive  hours  of  noon, 
was  wont  to  rest.    Beside  their  roots  bubbled  a 
cool  rivulet,  in  which  he  sometimes  cast  his  lim 
ber  trunk  and  sported  with  its  waters,    This  was 
the  spot  where  the  last  of  his  brute  brethren  hod 
fallen,    Here  his  gigantic  frame  fell,  and  here  it 
reposed.    The  earth  about  Behemoth  was  the 
dust  of  his  mighty  bones,  and  every  green  thing 
which  sprang  from  the  mould  drew  its  nourish 
ment  from  the  great  Dead. 

The  desperate  crew,  to  which  we  have  allu 
ded,  or  rather  one  of  their  chiefs,  conceived  a 
plan,  based  on  the  Mastodon's  frequent  resort  to 

this  locality,  which  might  eventuate  in  his  de- 

*» 
struction.     The  chief,  with  whom  it  originated, 

suggested  that  five  or  six  bands  or  bodies  of  men 
should  commence  mining  the  earth  at  a  consi 
derable  depth,  from  so  many  distinct  quarters, 
g  the  ground  where  Behemoth  was  accus- 


72  BEHEMOTH. 

tomed  to  repose,  the  common  centre  of  their 
operations.  They  should  delve  thus  far  below 
the  surface  until  they  had  reached  the  spot 
in  question,  that  the  earth  might  be  sufficiently 
solid  to  bear  up  the  weight  of  the  prodigious 
Brute,  as  he  crossed  it  to  and  fro :  but  that,  when 
they  had  attained  the  appointed  centre  subterrane- 
ously,  they  should  then  so.  far  diminish  the  body 
of  earth  as  to  leave  a  mere  shell  through  which 
his  bulk  must  needs  bear  the  Mastodon  and  bring 
him  to  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  thus  prepared  for 
him,  with  rapid  and  deadly  haste.  The  latter 
port  of  the  mining,  as  they  approached  the  cen- 
tro,  was  to  be  conducted  by  means  of  broad 
spades  attached  to  long  handles,  while  the  miner 
stood  back  in  the  subterranean  halls  secure  from 
the  sudden  downfalling  of  the  heavy  bulk. 

The  day  came  to  put  in  trial  this  desperate  in- 
ventipn  for  the  overthrow  of  the  heroic  enemy.  A 
company  of  about  five  hundred  men,  under  five 
leaders,  went  forth  to  their  allotted  labor.  Day  af 
ter  day  they  toiled  under  the  earth.  Cautiously  in 
the  morning  they  sallied  out  to  their  duty,  and  at 
night  stole  back  as  cautiously  to  their  slumbers. 
They  had  finished  the  whole  plan  in  detail  as 
mapped  out  by  its  projector ;  they  had  hollowed 


BEHEMOTH.  73 

the  earth  with  their  far  withdrawn  instruments  of 
labor,  until  the  weight  of  the  Mastodon  rested  at 
noon,  casting  its  shadow  far  east,  upheld  but  by  a 
thin  shelf  of  earth.  They  toiled  on,  Withhisquicfc 
intelligent  ear  he  heard  the  click  of  their  many 
mattocks,  and  giving  a  bold  and  agile  spring — 
wonderful  for  so  ponderous  a  frame — he  pressed 
his  feet  strongly  upon  the  mould  ;  it  yielded  and 
fell  in  with  dire  ruin,  and  Behemoth  landed  be 
yond  its  fatal  circle  on  the  bright  greensward, 
and  bellowed  forth  a  fearful  roar  of  triumph  and 
scorn. 

The  subterranean  toilers,  when  they  heard  the 
thunderous  voice  of  Behemoth,  clear  and  sonor 
ous  on  high,  knew  that  he  had  escaped  ;  while 
not  a  few  of  their  number,  whose  fool-hardiness 
had  carried  them  too  near  the  falling  mass,  pe 
rished  under  it.  The  remainder,  abandoning  all 
things,  fled,  dismayed,  toil-worn  and  discomfited, 
toward  their  native  villages. 


PART  SECOND. 


PART  SECOND. 


IT  was  two  hours  before  sunrise.  Through 
tho  wide  realm  of  the  populous  West  not  a  soul 
was  stirring,  save  a  single  human  figure,  which 
might  have  been  seen  threading  its  way  through 
the  streets  of  one  of  the  great  cities  of  the  Mound- 
builders.  This  solitary  object  moved  at  a  slow, 
measured  pace,  as  if  its  progress  was  actually  re 
tarded  by  the  weight  of  the  thoughts  with  which 
it  was  engaged.  The  eyes  gleamed  as  if  they 
beheld  afar  off  so  me  enterprise  of  magnitude  and 
obstinacy  sufficient  to  call  up  the  whole  soul  of 
the  man,  and  the  lines  of  the  countenance  work 
ed,  and  the  hands  were  clenched  as  if  he  was  ak 
ready  employed  in  the  struggle.  If  one  could 
have  looked  into  his  bosom,  he  might  have  seen 
all  his  faculties  mustering  to  the  encounter ;  and 
among  other  passions  aroused  and  assembling 
there,  he  might  have  noted  discomfiture  and  mor 
tification  thrusting  in  their  hated  visages,  and 
7* 


76  BE HK MOTH. 

lending  a  keener  stimulus  and  quicker  motion 
to  the  current  of  his  thoughts.  If  the  power  of 
thus  inspecting  that  breast  were  given  to  him,  he 
might  have  also  discovered  an  heroic  resolution, 
almost  epic  in  its  proportions  and  strength,  tower 
ing  up  from  amid  the  ruins  of«many  cast-down 
and  desolated  projects,  and  assuming  to  contend 
with  unconquerable  might. 

The  solitary  figure  was  that  of  Bokulla,  who  was 
thus  venturing  forth,  self-exiled  and  alone,  todisco- 
ver  in  the  broad  wilderness  toward  the  sea,  what 
ever  means  of  triumph  he  might,  over  a  power  that 
had  hitherto  proved  itself  more  than  a  match  for 
human  strength  or  cunning.  A  great  spirit  had  ta 
ken  possession  of  the  chieftain,  and  the  shame  of 
an  inglorious  defeat  aided  to  kindle  the  energy  of 
his  passions,    Over  that  defeat  he  had  already 
pondered  long  and  anxiously.    He  confessed  to 
himself  that  he  had  formed  but  a  vague  opinion 
of  the  hugeness  and  strength  of  Behemoth  when 
ho  had  proposed  the  battle,    But  he  dwelt  in  the 
midst  of  a  terrified  und  perishing  people :    As  a 
man,  he  was  touched   by  the    sufferings  and 
alarms  of  his  nation.    Danger  and  death  were 
before  them,  and  up  gale  of  safety  or  mercy  open 
ed.    He  saw  this  people  not  only  in  the  present 


BEHEMOTH.  79 

time,  but  through  a  long  futurity,  scourged  and 
suffering :  the  old  tottering  into  a  hasty  grave, 
pursued  by  u  hideous  phantom  that  increased  its 
terrors ;  the  young  growing  up  with  images  and 
thoughts  of  fear,  interwoven  with  their  tender 
and  plastic  elements  of  being. 

Was  there  no  one  man  in  this  whole  nation 
who  would  go  forth,  in  the  spirit  of  martyrdom 
and  self-sacrifice,  and  seek,  even  in  the  desert  it 
self,  the  knowledge  that  would  bring  strength  and 
safety  in  its  wings  ?    It  was  he  that  was  now 
passing  away  from  his  country  for  a  while,  and 
launching  himself  in  the  boundless  wilderness  of 
the  West.  Championed  by  doubt  and  solitude,  he 
was  plunging  into  a  region  which  stretched,  he 
knew  not  whither,  and  to  a  fate,  perchance,  his 
heart  dared  not  whisper  to  itself.    What  fruit 
might  spring  from  this  hardy  enterprise,  it  was 
vain  to  conjecture ;  but  he  was  determined  to 
gather  some  knowledge  of  the  habits  and  some 
information  as  to  the  lodgment  of  this  terrible 
scourge  of  his  people.  With  rapid  and  firm  step, 
he  therefore  proceeded  on  his  way.    By  secret 
paths,  and  through  dark  woods,  he  advanced,  and 
mid-day  brought  him  to  a  spot  which  overlooked 


80  BEHEMOTH. 

the  whole  of  the  wide  territory  of  the  Mound- 
builders.  v 

He  stood  upon  a  cliff  which  pushed  out  boldly 
from  the  wooded  region  that  lay  behind  it,  and 
hung,  like  the  platform  of  a  castle,  over  a  valley 
and  river  that  wound  round  its  base.  It  was  co* 
vered  in  patches  with  verdure  and  earth  from 
which  a  few  stately  trees  threw  up  their  branches, 
and  underneath  these  Bokulla  now  stood. 

Casting  his  eye  abroad  he  beheld  a  scene  which 
the  boldest  fancy  of  our  time  can  scarcely  con 
ceive,  accustomed  as  we  are  to  think  of  the 
prairies  as  tenantless  and  houseless  deserts,  and 
the  whole  broad  West  as  a  wild,  unpeopled  re 
gion  never  disturbed  unless  by  bands  of  straggling 
Indian  hunters,  or  a  mad  herd  of  buffalo  sweep 
ing  like  a  tornado  over  their  bosom.  From  his 
Jofty  stand,  the  self-exiled  chieftain  looked  down 
upon  a  country  as  broad  as  Europe — spread  out 
in  the  most  glorious  variety  of  hill,  and  vale,  and 
meadow,  with  a  thousand  streams  intersecting  the 
whole,  sometimes  mingling  with  each  other,  occa 
sionally  ploughing  their  way  through  a  genial 
valley,  orcuttingdeep  into  the  heart  of  a  mountain 
whose  slope  was  covered  with  forests.  A  numer 
ous  population  lined  their  banks,  or  hovered 


BEHEMOTH.  81 

on  their  eminences,  whose  dwellings  and  national 
edifices  reared  themselves  in  the  air  and  darkened 
the  land  with  their  number.  Over  those  vast, 
verdant  deeps,  the  prairies,  were  scattered  like 
islands,  countless  cities  in  whoso  suburbs  tall 
towers  of  granite  and  marble  sprang  to  the  sky 
and  resembled  the  masts  of  ships  of  war  just  put 
ting  out  from  the  ahore,  In  another  direction  a 
mighty  bastion  of  earth,  with  its  round  green 
summit,  heaved  itself  into  view  like  the  back  of 
some  huge  sea  monster ;  and  the  long  grass  of 
the  prairies,  swept  by  occasional  winds,  rolled  to 
and  fro  and  furnished  the  ocean-like  surges  on 
which  all  these  objects  rode  triumphant. 

Upon  this  scene  Bokulla  gazed  long  and 
earnestly  while  many  dark  thoughts  and  sad  emo 
tions  followed  each  other  like  the  clouds  of  sum 
mer  through  his  mind  and  darkened  his  counte 
nance  as  they  passed.  Beneath  him  he  saw  an 
hundred  cities  devoted  to  ruin  :  tower,  and  tern* 
pie,  and  dwelling  crumbling  to  the  earth,  and  no 
hand  lifted  to  arrest  their  fall,  A  wide  populace 
was  wasting  away  from  a  robust  and  manly 
vigor  into  a  pale  and  shadow-like  decrepitude. 
I  Day  by  day  the  august  majesty  of  a  prosperous 
and  ambitious  nation  dwindled  into  a  shrunken 


BEHEMOTH. 

and  counterfeit  image  of  itself.  To  them  there 
was  now  no  alternation  of  sunshine  or  shadow : 
seasons  passed  without  their  fruits :  the  golden 
summer  no  longer  smiled  in  their  midst,  and  ge 
nerous  autumn  departed  without  a  blessing  and 
unheeded. 

To  these  miserable  and  suffering  realms  Bokulla 
now  bade  farewell  His  present  enterprise  might 
he  without  fruit,  or  fraught  with  disastrous  and 
fatal  results  to  ^himself :  yet  in  the  strength  of 
Nature  he  would  once  more  presume  to  cope  with 
the  dreaded  enemy,  for  he  still  believed  that  man 
must  be  triumphant  in  the  end  over  this  bestial 
domination.  To  man  the  earth  was  given  as  his 
kingdom,  and  all  tribes  and  classes  of  creatures 
were  made  his  subjects  and  vassals.  In  this  faith 
he  turned  away  from  a  scene  which  suggested 
so  many  fearful  topics  of  thought,  and  bent  his 
course  towaro  the  West,  guided  by  such  know 
ledge  as  he  already  enjoyed,  and  such  marks  as 
occurred  to  his  observation,  determined  to  avoid 
the  face  of  man  and  to  be  familiar  only  with  soli 
tude  and  danger  until  some  new  means  of  tri 
umph  were  clearly  discovered.  In  pursuance  of 
this  resolve  he  pushed  forward  with  speed  and 
energy;  plucking  by  the  way  wild  berries  and 


BEHEMOTH.  S3 

other  natural  fruits  as  food,  and  drinking  of  the 
cool  shaded  rivulet,  his  only  beverage  :  for,  from 
thefirst  moment  that  he  had  conceived  the  thought 
of  this  venturous  self-exile,  he  vowed  to  cast  him 
self  on  Nature  and  to  be  received  and  sustained 
by  her  as  her  worthy  child,  or  to  perish  as  an  alien 
and  outcast  on  her  bosom.  He  had  therefore 
come  forth  unprovided  with  food,  and  trusting 
entirely  to  her  bounty  for  a  supply. 

Hand  in  hand  thus  with  liberal  Nature,  Bokulla 
pressed  onward  until  night-fall,  when  lie  halted, 
and,  sheltering  himself  safely  within  the  hollow 
of  a  rock,  he  gathered  himself  for  repose. 

Thus  for  many  days  did  this  solitary  pilgrim 
journey  on,  seeking  no  other  couch  but  the  over 
hanging  cliff  or  the  sheltering  bank,  and  finding 
no  other  canopy  but  the  broad,  open  sky  and  the 
green  roof  of  the  branching  tree.  A  constant 
grandeur  of  soul  sustained  him  in  the  midst  of 
many  pressing  hardships,  and  a  noble  purpose 
bore  him  forward  as  the  winds  propel  the  eagle 
that  trusts  to  their  strength.  Guided  by  appa 
rent  tracks  and  obvious  landmarks,  about  the 
middle  of  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  he 
reached  a  solemn  wood,  into  th<5  heart  of  which  he 
made  hid  way.  v  ' 


84  BEHEMOTH. 

He  was  something  wearied  with  travel,  and 
seeing  the  remains  of  a  large  old  oak  thrusting 
themselves  up  from  the  tangled  and  chequered 
shade,  he  seated  himself  upon  them.  The  wild 
underwood  and  smaller  foliage  were  twisted  into 
a  thousand  fantastic  shapes,  which  wreathed 
themselves  round,  and  the  prodigal  forest-flowers 
had  scattered  their  colors  here  and  there  so  pro 
fusely  over  the  seat  which  the  self-exile  had 
chosen,  as  to  furnish  somewhat  the  appearance  of 
a  rich  and  cushioned  throne.  What  wonder  if 
the  resemblance  struck  the  excited  imagination 
of  Bokulla,  and  his  eye  glanced  about  the  forest 
as  if  in  search  of  attendants  that  should  hedge 
this  seat  of  honor  round.  "  Am  I  alone  here !" 
half-muttered  the  chieftain.  "  Is  all  this  pleasant 
realm  of  air,  and  this  verdurous  spot  of  earth 
void  and  barren  !  No,  no ;  I  am  not  in  an  un- 
populous  solitude  even  here.  Airy  citizens  throng 
about  me  in  this  remote  and  unfrequented  wood. 
Busy  hopes,  immortal  desires,  passions,  longings, 
and  aspirations  that  lengthen  like  shadows  the 
nearer  we  approach  the  sunset  of  life.  Mighty 
and  tumultuous  wishes  and  emotions  gather 
around  me  in  this  pathless  and  woodland  region, 
and  tell  me  I  am  not,  that  I  cannot  be,  alone. 


BEHEMOTH.  85 

Shadowy  creatures !  wnich  sway  us  beyond  all 
corporal  powers  and  instruments — ye  swarm  now 
in  these  shaded  walks — and  foremost  Ambition 
and  Fame,  glorious  twins  !  stand  forth  and  tower 
in  cloudy  stature,  grasping  at  impossible  objects 
and  plucking  at  the  heavens  themselves !  Im 
mortal  powers  and  faculties  !  in  these  retired  and 
natural  chambers,  1  know  you  as  the  internal  and 
silent  agencies  which  are  to  guide  and  sustain 
me  through  this  hardy  and  venturous  pilgrim 
age." 

In  this  wood  he  found  a  suitable  shelter  and 
stretched  himself  for  sleep.    Notwithstanding  the 
great  cares  with  which  he  was  oppressed,  the 
mind  of  the  chieftain  was  visited  by  pleasant 
dreams;  and  he  was  borne  far  back  from  the 
gloomy  and  troubled  present,  into  an  old  and 
cheerful  time,  where  every  thing  wore  a  counte 
nance  of  joy,  and  a  golden  atmosphere  floated 
about  all.     He  wandered  along  the  banks  of 
mighty  streams,  watching  the  careless  flight  of 
birds,  or  the  idle  motions  of  their  currents,  on 
which  many  vessels  of  gallant  trim,  with  every 
sail  set,  were  hastening  toward  the  sen.    Around 
him  a  thousand  familiar  sounds  made  the  com 
mon  music  of  day ;  trumpets  were  sounded  in 
8 


86  BEHEMOTH. 

the  distance ;  citizens  were  hurrying  forth  or 
home  on  errands  of  business,  or  pleasure,  or  tender 
sorrow ;  and  all  was  human  and  delightful.  The 
chieftain  himself  seemed  to  have  the  heart  of 
youth,  and  to  ramble  onward  amid  these  pleasant 
scenes  of  life  as  if  no  morrow  was  coming,  as  if 
the  sun  that  was  now  in  mid-heaven  would  never 
set. 

Near  the  close  of  the  night,  this  pageant  passed 
away,  and  the  slumbers  of  the  champion  were 
interrupted  by  a  loud  sound,  like  that  of  a  storm 
gathering  in  the  distance,  and  which  drew  near 
er  by,  increasing  every  moment.  Presently  it 
seemed  to  cross  the  western  quarter  of  the  wood 
with  a  clashing  and  tumultuous  noise,  resembling 
that  of  a  great  cataract,  and  then  it  passed  far  to 
the  north-west,  and  died  away  after  a  long  time 
like  rattling  thunder,  among  the  distant  peaks  of 
the  mountains. 

Nothing  could  be  more  alarming  to  the  imagi 
nation  than  this  midnight  tumult,  and  Bokulla  felt 
that  his  situation  was  like  that  of  the  wretched  ma 
riner,  whose  bark  is  dashed  on  the  rocks  of  some 
inhospitable  shore,  where  night  and  the  raging 
winds  press  on  him  behind,  and  darkness  and  the 
wild  beast  prepare  to  fasten  on  his  weather-beaten 


BEHEMOTH.  87 

body  as  he  strikes  the  land.    But  no  sound  that 
Bokulla  had  ever  known  could  represent  the 
character  of  that  which  all  night  long  had  re 
bellowed,  and  thundered,  and  died  away.    The 
stormy  shouts  of  a  warlike  assault,  the  furious 
outcry  of  popular  rage,  the  howling  of  winter 
winds,  all  commixed,  would  be  an  imperfect 
image  of  its  depth,  and  strength,  and  varying 
loudness,    In  the  morning,  disturbed  and  per 
plexed,  he  girded  himself  again  to  his  task,  and 
shaped  his  course  toward  that  region  of  the  fo 
rest  by  which  the  indescribable  tumult  had  swept. 
An  hour's  swift  travel  brought  him  to  a  large 
wooded  slope,  which  presented  to  his  view,  in 
the  uncertain  light  of  a.  sun  obscured  by  the  gray 
mist  of  morning,  an  astonishing  spectacle,    A 
thousand  vast  old  trees,  each  large  enough  for  the 
main  column  of  a  temple,  were  dashed  against 
the  upland  and  lay  there,  leaning  half-way  down, 
as  if  they  had  contested  against  overthrow,  like 
mighty  ships,  blown  over  in  the  harbor  of  some 
great  city,  when  tho  north  has  bilrst  upon  them 
and  commanded  that  they  should  veil  their  pen 
nons  and  high-aspiring  standards. 

From  obvious  footmarks  he  easily  discovered  the 
course  which  the  strength  that  caused  this  desola- 


88  BEHEMOTH. 

tion  had  taken,  and  pursuing  the  indications  thus 
furnished,  he  was  soon  out  upon  an  open  plain. 
The  region  that  now  spread  before  him  was  a 
wide  and  trackless  waste,  barren,  void  of  vegeta 
tion,  and  apparently  deserted  of  nature.  Such  her 
bage  as  lingered  about  its  borders,  was  small, 
scanty,  and  withered,  and  crept  gloomily  along 
the  dusty  banks  of  dricd-up  brooks  and  rivulets, 
Over  this  arid  desert,  as  Bokulla  slowly  plodded, 
he  discovered  the  same  large  foot-prints  as  he  had 
followed  all  along,  crossing  and  re-crossing  each 
other,  sometimes  diverging  and  again  keeping 
straight  on,  in  a  manner  so  irregular  and  wan 
dering,  as  to  bewilder  him,  and  set  any  attempt 
to  pursue  them  entirely  at  nought. 

la  some  places  the  earth  was  ploughed  up  and 
rent  with  seams  recently  made,  and  in  others  it 
was  scattered  far  and  wide,  in  irregular  and  bro 
ken  heaps,  The  whole  wilderness  presented  an 
appearance  as  if  it  had  been  recently  trampled 
by  spme  angry  and  barbaric  puissance,  that  had 
swept  it  from  end  to  end,  like  a  storm. 

What  now  rendered  his  situation  still  more 
perplexing,  was  a  circumstance  which  would 
seem  at  first  a  source  of  self-gratulation  and 
comfort,  after  the  fearful  sounds  of  the  preceding 


BEHEMOTH.  89 

night.  A  dead  silence  hung  all  around  him, 
which  was,  if  possible,  more  dreary  and  depress 
ing  than  the  unearthly  noises  of  midnight,  A 
soundless  and  voiceless  quiet  filled  the  air,  the 
sky,  and  brooded  over  the  inanimate  sea  of  sand 
slumbering  at  his  feet. 

Through  this  confused  and  desolate  region  the 
chieftain  resolved  to  make  his  way  to  the  summit 
of  some  one  of  the  mountains  that  dominated 
this  arid  plain  at  its  farthest  extremity,  and  from 
thence,  as  from  a  citadel,  look  abroad  and  make 
such  discoveries  as  he  might. 

Bokulla  at  length  reached  the  summit  of  a  high 
mountain,  and  looking  forth  towards  the  East, 
he  beheld  a  mighty  region  of  hill  and  valley, 
whose  immensity  astonished  and  overwhelmed 
him.  In  one  direction  an  hundred  peaks  towered 
one  above  the  other,  until  the  farthest  was  lost, 
it  seemed,  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  sky.  In 
another,  torrents  dashed  through  numerous  de 
clivities,  tearing  down  mountains,  it  almost  seem* 
ed,  in  their  rage,  and  threatening  to  wash  away 
tho  very  foundations  of  the  earth,  as  they  leaped 
over  rocks,  and  crags,  and  rugged  precipices. 
Huge  passes  and  defiles  that  ploughed  their  way 
through  the  bosoms  of  solid  mountains,  and  led 
8* 


90  BEHEMOTH. 

down  as  it  were  to  the  central  fires,  were  visible 
in  other  quarters,  and  exhibited  more  or  less  of 
their  dreary  turnpikes  as  the  sun-light  fell  upon 
one  or  the  other.  As  Bokulia  looked  forth  he 
descried  a  dark  object  moving  slowly  along  a  dis 
tant  peak.  Sometimes  it  paused,  and  then  again 
advanced ;  at  length  it  plunged  down  the  moun 
tain-side  into  a  deep  and  dark  valley,  but  still 
some  portion  of  it  was  apparent  j  and  at  intervals, 
as  it  crossed  a  seam  or  gap  that  intersected 
the  valley,  the  whole  figure  came  into  view. 
Thus  it  wound  through  the  immense  region,  al 
most  the  whole  time  conspicuous  to  the  eye  of 
the  gazer,  who,  however,  was  unable  to  discover 
its  character,  so  remote  was  the  distance  at  which 
it  moved.  At  length  it  emerged  from  the  many 
defiles  and  declivities,  among  which  it  had  pass 
ed,  and  came  out  upon  the  open  plain. 

As  a  numerous  fleet  of  war  ships,  all  their 
canvass  spread,  double  some  one  of  the  Atlantic 
capes,  and  come  within  the  ken  of  the  anxious 
watcher  on  shore,  so  did  this  vast  object  steer 
round  the  mountain-base  and  stand  before  the  eye 
of  Bokulia.  Like  a  huge  fog  that  has  settled  in 
autumn  upon  the  ground,  and  creeps  along  until 
it  has  mastered  the  earth  with  its  broad  dimcn- 


BEHEMOTH.  VM 

sions,  so  did  the  stature  and  bulk  of  the  Masto 
don  tower  and  enlarge  as  it  drew  nigh.  Among 
those  mighty  peaks,  and  along  that  immeasura 
ble  plain,  he  seemed  to  move  the  suitable  and 
sole  inhabitant.  Rocks  piled  on  rocks,  and 
rivers,  the  parents  of  oceans,  calling  unto  rivers  as 
large,  and  dreadful  summits  that  hung  over  the 
earth  and  threatened  to  crush  it,  were  not  its 
massy  plains  and  platforms  broad  enough  to  uphold 
mountains  an  hundred  fold  vaster,  this  was  the 
proper  birth-place  and  dwelling  of  the  mightiest 
creature  of  the  earth. 

Amid  these  great  elements  of  nature,  Bokulla 
beheld  the  motions  of  the  Mastodon  as  he  trode 
the  earth  in  gigantic  sway  ;  and  thought  swelled 
upon  tumultuous  thought,  like  waves  that  break 
over  each  other  in  the  middle  ocean,  at  each  step 
of  that  unparalleled  and  majestic  progress,  What 
wonder,  if  at  that  moment  he  deemed  the  great 
creature  before  him  unassailable  and  immortal  ? 
Behemoth  passed  onward,  and  for  the  first  time  in 
many  hours  was  lost  to  the  gaze  of  the  chieftain, 
as  he  entered  a  dark  gap  in  a  great  mountain 
range  far  to  the  East.  Intent  on  the  daring  and 
venturous  purpose  which  had  drawn  him  forth 
into  the  wilderness,  he  descended  from  his  lofty 


92  BEHEMOTH. 

station  and  shaped  his  course  to  the  barriers 
within  which  the  unconquered  Brute  had  pass 
ed.    With  incredible  labor  he  toiled  over  a  thou 
sand    obstacles;    clambering  high    mountains, 
plodding  through  gloomy  valleys,  and  compass 
ing,  by  contrivance  sometimes,  sometimes  by 
sheer  strength,  broad  streams,  he  found  himself  at 
length,  as  the  night  approached,  fixed  on  a  lofty 
ridge,  whence  his  eye  fell  upon  a  spacious  am 
phitheatre  of  meadow,  completely  shut  in  by 
rocks  and  mountains,  save  at  a  single  narrow  cut 
or  opening.    In  the  centre  of  this  he  beheld  Be 
hemoth  couchant  (his  head  turned  toward  the 
chieftain  himself)  like  a  sublime  image  of  stone 
in  the  middle  of  a  silent  lake.    Bokulla  exhibit 
ed  no  symptoms  of  terror  or  trepidation,  and  the 
beast  lay  motionless  and  quiet.    Great  emotions 
filled  the  breast  of  the  chieftain  as  he  looked  upon 
the  Mastodon  reposing  in  this  fortified  solitude,  He 
closely  scrutinized  the  whole  circle  of  mountains, 
and  took  an  accurate  survey  of  the  gate  which  led 
out  into  the  open  country  beyond.    Among  other 
circumstances,  he  observed  large  hollows,  hew 
and  there,  in  different  quarters  of  the  plain,  as  if 
worn  there  by  the  constant  habitation  of  Behe 
moth  ;  and  also,  that  as  the  wind  sighed  through 


BEHEMOTH.  &3 

the  branches  of  trees  that  stood  in  its  centre  and 
along  its  border,  the  Mastodon  moved  up  and 
down  the  amphitheatre  with  a  slow  and  gentle 
motion  as  if  soothed  by  the  sound. 

While  he  was  thus  engaged,  night  descended 
upon  the  scene  ;  and  the  dark  hours  were  to  be 
passed  by  Bokulla  alone  in  that  far  off  wilderness, 
and  within  reach  of  the  mighty  and  terrible  foe. 
As  well  as  he  might  he  addressed  himself  to  sleep  ; 
but  it  was  almost  in  vain,  for  it  seemed  as  if  the 
fearful  strength  beneath  was  slumbering  at  his 
side,  and  as  if  its  tall,  cold  shadow  fell  upon  him 
and  froze  the  very  blood  in  his  veins.  Armed 
beings  of  an  inconceivable  and  super-human 
stature  passed  and  re-passed  before  his  mind ;  and 
the  vision  of  a  conflict  mightier  than  any  that  his 
mortal  eyes  had  ever  witnessed,  in  which  huge 
trumpets  brayed  and  enormous  shields  clashed 
against  each  other,  swept  along.  Then  it  chang 
ed,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  mountains  rocked  to  and 
fro  and  pent  winds  strove  to  topple  down  peaks 
and  pinnacles,  while  in  their  midst  one  mighty 
Figure,  neither  of  man  nor  of  angel,  stood  chain 
ed,  and,  in  a  deep  and  fearful  voice,  cried  to  the 
heavens  for  succor.  Perplexed  by  images  and 
visions  like  these,  Bokulla  wakened  before  the 


94  BP.HEMOTH, 

dawn  and  turned  his  steps,  with  scarce  any  guide 
or  landmark)  toward  his  own  home. 

And  now  an  appalling  fate  was  before  the 
champion)  for  he  was  without  food  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  desert.  The  liberal  fare  upon  which 
he  had  at  first  subsisted  was  gone  long  ago,  and 
the  scanty  supply  which  nature  had  lately  fur 
nished  from  hedges  and  meadows,  had  entire 
ly  ceased.  Barrenness,  barrenness,  barrenness, 
spread  al  I  around .  After  toil  and  exertion  of  body 
and  mind,  almost  beyond  mortal  strength,  he  seem 
ed  likely  to  perish  in  the  wastes  with  the  great 
project  that  his  soul  had  conceived  unknown  to 
living  man.  Interminable  and  gloomy  disasters 
lowered  over  his  country  if  he  should  perish  in 
the  wilderness,  He  struggled  onward  with  an 
guish  and  hunger  at  his  heart. 

At  last,  one  day,  when  his  strength  was  fast 
ebbing,  he  espied  a  bird  rising  sluggishly  from  a 
marshy  thicket,  and  bearing  in  its  pounces  a 
quarry  which  Bokulla  could  not  distinctly  ascer 
tain.  He  knew,  however,  that  it  must  be  some 
esculent,  and  doubted  not  that  it  had  been  seized 
by  the  hawk,  which  bore  it  in  its  clutches,  as  a 
valuable  prey.  The  bird  had  no  sooner  risen  on 
the  wing,  than  the  chieftain  ran  forward  and 


BEHEMOTH.  95 

shouted  with  all  his  might,  at  the  same  time 
stretching  out  both  his  hands,  with  the  hope  of 
frightening  the  hawk,  and  causing  her  to  drop 
her  booty.    She  was,  however,  a  strong  and 
courageous  plunderer,  and  fixing  her  talons  still 
deeper  into  the  sides  of  her  burden,  which  Bo- 
knlla  had  now  discovered,  by  a  feather  that  had 
fallen,  to  be  a  plump  and  well-fed  wood  partridge, 
she  soared  up  into  the  sky  :  the  weight  of  her 
booty  seeming  to  be  such  as   to  prevent  her 
from  attaining  a  lofty  flight.    The  chieftain  was 
too  nearly  famished  to  relinquish  at  once  this 
chance  of  food.    He  accordingly  cast  his  weather* 
stained  and  mouldering  cloak  from  his  shoulders, 
and  rushed  forth,  keeping  the  fugitive  barely  in 
sight.    The  hawk  which  had  attained  her  top 
most  pitch,  now  flew  level  with  the  earth,  and 
with  a  steady  and  not  too  rapid  wing.    Regardless 
of  every  other  object,  the  pursuer  pushed  on, 
with  his  face  ever  and  anon  turned  up  to  the  sky, 
through  brake  and  pool,  over  rocks  and  rugged 
places,  although,  at  times,  in  peril  of  his  life. 
j   Gaunt  famine  had  spread  her  wings,  and  on 
them,  as  it  were,  sustained,  he  swept  along  like  a 
wind.    His  heart  rose  and  fell  with  every  varia 
tion  in  the  motions  of  the  bird,  which  bore  in  its 


96  BEHEMOTH. 

clutch  the  precious  quarry.  In  this  way  the 
hawk  flew  on  for  the  first  day,  Bokulla  keeping 
even  with  her  flight,  and  watching  it  with  an 
anxiety  that  every  moment  increased. 

At  night-fall  the  bird  alit  in  the  upper  branche- 
of  a  dry  sycamore,  which  stood  by  the  side  of  a 
pool  filled  with  its  sere  dead  leaves,  and  with  two 
or  three  withered  and  hard-featured  lizards  for 
its  inhabitants. 

The  chieftain  lay  down  at  a  distance  and  pre 
tended  to  sleep.  When  he  supposed  the  bird  had 
fallen  into  its  slumbers,  he  crept  cautiously  to 
ward  the  tree  with  a  stout  stick  in  his  hand, 
hoping  to  strike  her  dead  from  the  perch. 

He  had  stolen  thus  within  a  few  feet  of  her 
rest,  and  raising  his  weapon  to  hurl  it  at  the  hend 
of  the  hawk,  he  saw  her  bright  eyes  staring 
through  the  dark  ;  in  a  moment  she  flapped  her 
wings  and  passed  wholly  out  of  sight.  • 

Al\  that  night  Bokulla  was  stretched  on  the 
earth  in  the  most  dreadful  torture  of  mind  and 
body.  In  the  dreary  darkness  which  had  settled 
over  all  things,  he  conld  not  tell  whether  the 
frighted  bird  had  flown  from  his  view  for  ever  or 
not.  With  the  first  streak  of  morning  he  sprang 
to  his  feet,  and  at  the  same  time,  startled  by  his 


BEHEMOTH.  97 

abrupt  movement,  the  hawk  again  took  wing 
from  a  neighboring  tree,  where  she  had  passed 
the  night,  and  put  forth  steadily  on  her  journey. 
Bokulla  followed,  with  the  hope  that  some 
lucky  chance  would  place  her  booty  in  his  pos 
session.    And  so  it  well-nigh  happened,  for,  as  he 
still  pursued  the  bird,  on  the  afternoon  of  this 
second  day,  a  sudden  gust  of  wind  fell  from  the 
sky,  and  sweeping  down  upon  the  hawk,  bore 
her  to  within  arm's  length  of  the  eager  chieftain. 
He  immediately  stretched  forth  the  cudgel,  which 
he  still  carried,  to  strike  her  to  the  ground  ;  but  as 
he  raised  his  arm,  the  wind  shifting  its  course, 
swept  her  again  high  into  the  air. 

The  country  which  he  had  now  reached  pre 
sented  the  most  wild  and  sublime  aspect.  On 
every  side  of  him  he  saw  stupendous  peaks, 
springing  up  into  the  sky,  covered  from  crown 
to  base  with  dazzling  sheets  of  snow,  which 
looked  like  mighty  tents  pitched  in  the  desert. 

Between  these  a  heady  river  roared  and 
brawled,  like  a  noisy  and  vaunting  herald  sum- 
raoning  to  the  fight.  Along  its  banks  Bokulla 
speeded.  The  hawk  alighting  on  a  stone  which 
reared  its  bald  head  in  the  middle  of  the  stream, 
•  i  mule  of  its  waters.  The  chieftain,  first  imitating 


98  BEHEMOTH. 

her  example  and  quaffing  of  the  stream,  taking 
advantage  of  two  or  three  straggling  trees  that 
stood  on  its  margin,  stole  along  and  hurled  a 
stone  at  the  bird,  which,  from  his  feebleness,  fell 
far  short  of  its  mark,  and  pashed  into  the  stream 
with  a  dull,  sullen  sound.  Again  springing  on 
the  wing,  she  steered  her  course  between  the 
peaks  of  the  mountains,  and  kept  steadily  on 
ward. 

In  this  way  the  chase  continued  until  the 
darkness  set  in,  when  the  hawk  fell  abruptly  into 
a  thicket  of  reeds,  and  finding  a  covert,  settled  to 
rest  for  the  night.  When  the  day  dawned  Bo- 
kulla  found  himself  at  the  foot  of  a  rocky  ascent, 
sheer  through  the  centre  of  which  a  rapid  current 
cut  its  Xvay,  breaking  midway  up  into  a  magnifi 
cent  fall,  which  dashed  with  impetuous  violence 
from  the  height  into  a  granite  basin  beneath.  A 
little  below  the  point  where  the  waters  thus  fell, 
they  expanded  into  a  quiet  lake,  over  which  the 
rays  of  the  newly-risen  orb  flickered,  forming 
here  and  there,  over  its  smooth  expanse,  friths  of 
sunlight,  which  ran  in  from  the  centre  of  the 
lake  to  the  edge  of  the  green  shore. 

As  the  sun  attained  a  higher  station  in  the 
heavens,  radiant  bows  began  to  gather  over  the 


BEHEMOTH.  99 

river,  and  it  rushed  joyously  on  its  course  through 
these  bright  arches  of  its  own  creation.  Bokulla 
plunged  into  the  reed-brake  in  the  hope  of  seizing 
the  unwary  hawk  asleep  on  her  perch,  but  he  had 
no  sooner  taken  the  first  step  into  the  covert  than 
she  started  up,  and  shaped  her  flight  over  the 
rugged  ascent  before  them.  The  journey  up  the 
steep  was  too  toilsome  for  the  chieftain,  and  he 
feared  that  he  must  abandon  the  pursuit.  For 
tunately,  as  he  was  forming  this  desperate  resolve, 
he  discovered  a  wild  steed,  of  deep  jet-black 
color,  browsing  on  the  grass  by  the  river's  side. 
Cautiously  approaching  him,  Bokulla,  springing 
forward,  seized  his  long,  flowing  mane,  and 
with  an  agility  characteristic  of  his  better  days, 
he  vaulted  upon  his  back  and  turned  his  head  up 
the  ascent 

Wildly  he  urged  him  forward,  and  he  rushed 
up  the  rocky  steep  with  a  force  and  vigor  similar 
to  that  with  which  the  cascade  dashed  in  an  op 
posite  direction.  His  ears  and  crest  were  erect, 
his  tail  streamed  in  the  wind,  and  every  muscle 
was  strained  to  its  utmost  power.  His  cap  had 
fallen  from  the  chieftain's  head,  his  cloak  was 
gone,  and  he  sate  on  the  back  of  the  steed,  his 
hair  floating  abroad,  his  eyes  straining  eagerly 


100  BEHEMOTH. 

forward — presenting  the  image  of  some  goblin 
horseman  of  the  desert.  Every  tread  of  the 
courser  on  the  hard  rock  rang  through  the  wil 
derness,  and  Bokulla  shouted  him  madly  for 
ward.  The  hawk  overhead)  still  retaining  in  her 
talons  her  contested  quarry,  kept  in  the  advance, 
screaming  with  delight  and  apparently  stirred 
by  the  excitement  of  the  pursuit. 

In  this  way  the  gallant  bird  flew  on,  and  the 
mettlesome  courser  pursued,  up  the  declivity  and 
down  the  opposite  side.  Onward  they  flew  over 
the  plain — the  hawk  steering  on  in  an  almost  un 
varying  line  toward  the  south-east.  Over  hills- 
through  forests — and  along  stream-sides  the  wild 
chase  continued  until  the  afternoon  of  the  third 
day,  when,  just  as  he  had  emerged  from  a  long 
tract  of  woods,  and  had  turned  his  eye  toward 
the  sky,  to  recover  sight  of  the  hawk,  she  gave 
a  wild  scream,  a  sudden  wheel  into  the  clouds, 
and  disappeared  for  ever.(l) 

To  his  utter  astonishment,  the  moment  that  the 
hawk  vanished  a  populous  city  burst  upon  his 
gaze  directly  before  him,  and  ere  he  could  discern 
further,  the  wild  steed  dashed  down  a  travelled 
way  and  was  entering  its  streets.  The  circui 
tous  pursuit,  which  had  changed  its  direction  ma- 


BEHEMOTH.  101 

ny  times,  had  brought  him  unexpectedly  to  al 
most  the  very  spot  from  which  he  had  set  out  on 
his  pilgrimage.  If  the  astonishment  of  Bokulla 
was  great  at  this  miraculous  termination  of  his 
journey^  that  of  the  inhabitants,  among  whom  he 
was  thus  thrown,  was  no  less ;  and  as  the  coal* 
black  steed  galloped  through  their  streets  they 
beheld  the  rider,  his  features  gaunt  and  unearthly, 
and  his  hair  streaming  wildly  to  the  wind,  with 
amazement  mingled  with  terror.  Some  fled  from 
his  path  and  sought  refuge  in  their  dwellings, 
while  others  rushed  out  to  gaze  upon  him  as  he 
scampered,  wild  and  spectre-like,  along  the  dis 
tance  ;  and  others  gathered  together,  and  in  sub 
dued  voices,,  conjectured  or  canvassed  the  cha 
racter  of  the  sudden  apparition.  Many  wild 
guesses  and  shrewd  suggestions  were  ventured. 

"  This  is  a  fiend  of  the  prairie,"  said  ono.  "  He 
that  rambles  up  and  down  the  big  meadow,  blow 
ing  his  horn,  and  who  calls  the  wolves  and  gob 
lins  together  when  a  carcass  is  thrown  out  or  a 
traveller  perishes  in  crossing  them." 

"  It  is  a  lunatic  escaped  from  his  friends,"  said 
a  second,  "  who  has  been  out  seeking  his  wits  in 
the  mountains." 

"  You  are  wide  of  the  mark,  my  good  sirs,"  said 


102  BEHEMOTH. 

a  sharp  eyed  little  man,  glaring  about  and  looking 
up  at  the  windows  as  if  afraid  of  being  overheard ; 
and  the  group  pressed  more  closely  about  him 
as  if  expecting  a  communication  of  great  weight 
and  shrewdness — "  a  whole  bow-shot  wide  of  the 
mark :— it  is  the  keeper  of  Behemoth  \n 

At  this  they  all  turned  pale  and  lifted  up  their 
eyes  in  astonishment,  and  admitted  that  nothing 
could  be  nearer  the  truth. 

By  .this  time  Bokulla  had  reached  his  own 
door,  and  throwing  himself  from  his  steed  of  the 
desert  prepared  to  enter  in  ;  but  ere  he  could  ef 
fect  this  object,  several  stout  citizens  pressed  be 
fore  him  and  arrested  his  steps. 

"Wherefore  is  this?"  said  the  foremost.  "Will 
you  rush  into  a  house  of  mourning  in  this  guize  ? 
Know  you  not  that  this  is  the  mansion  of  Bokul 
la,  the  champion — and  that  his  widow  is  in  sack- 
cloth  and  tears  within  ?  Begone  elsewhere,  mad 
man  P 

This  remonstrance  was  seconded  by  another, 
and  a  third,  until  it  swelled  so  high  that  the 
crowd  would  have  seized  him  and  wreaked  some 
injury  upon  his  person,  had  he  not  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  moment's  pause ;  and  standing  on  an 


BEHEMOTH.  103 

elevation,  he  shouted  out,  "  Peace,  Mound-build 
ers  » — it  is  Bokulla  before  you  !" 

At  this  declaration  many  began  to  recognise  in 
the  shrunken  features  and  toil-worn  frame  before 
them,  their  great  champion  and  chieftain,  and  a 
shout  was  raised,  "  life  and  health  to  Bokulla, 
the  father  of  his  country  1"  "  Pleasant  dew  fall 
upon  him !"  "  Long  may  he  tread  the  green  earth 
under  his  feet !"  and  many  national  invocations 
and  blessings. 

The  rumor  now  spread  rapidly  abroad,  and 
the  cry  was  taken  up  wherever  it  reached  and  re 
newed  with  hearty  good-will,  for  all  were  rejoiced 
at  the  return  of  their  great  leader,  whom  some 
had  considered  lost  for  ever ;  and  who  all  admit 
ted  was  the  only  one  that  could  contend,  with 
any  chance  of  success,  against  their  barbaric  foe. 
Even  the  little  group  of  gossips  that  had  construed 
him  into  a  fiend,  a  lunatic,  and  the  keeper  of  Behe 
moth,  but  a  moment  before,  now  rushed  eagerly 
forward  and  were  among  the  first  to  welcome  him 
back,  the  sharp  eyed  little  man  invoking  a  special 
blessing  on  his  pleasant  countenance,  which  look 
ed,  he  said,  "like  that  of  a  saving  angel."  Escap 
ing  from  these  numerous  tokens  of  admiration 
and  regard,  Bokulla  withdrew  into  his  dwelling, 


104  BEHEMOTH. 

find  the  crowd,  after  lingering  about  for  many 
hours  to  glean  Such  information  as  they  might  of 
his  absence,  and  to  catch  a  view  of  his  person,  at 
length  dispersed,  each,  he  knew  not  why,  with  a 
lighter  heart,  and  more  joyous  look,  than  had  fall 
en  to  his  lot  for  many  long  and  weary  months. 

From  the  dwelling  of  Bokulla  let  us  turn 
our  steps  for  a  while  toward  the  suburbs  of  the 
city,  and  enter  the  sick  chamber  of  Kluckhatch, 
the  blusterer.  The  adventure  of  that  valiant  pre 
tender  against  Behemoth  had  been  accompanied 
with  serious,  and,  from  the  aspect  they  at  present 
assumed,  perhaps  fatal  consequences.  The  alarm 
of  spirits  which  he  had  suffered,  together  with  the 
dreary  submersion  in  the  pool,  had  thrown  the 
adventurer  into  a  violent  ague.  Day  by  day  the 
malady  became  more  tyrannical,  and  the  mind  of 
Kluckhatch  more  fretful  and  restless.  His  soul 
seemed  like  the  sun  to  expand  as  it  approached 
its  final  eclipse,  and  nature,  who,  at  his  birth, 
had  exhibited  the  art  and  skill  of  a  bottle-con 
juror  in  crowding  so  puissant  a  spirit  into  so 
narrow  a  body,  now  seemed  at  a  loss  to  drive 
the  obstinate  tenant  from  its  residence.  The  little 
man  clung  more  desperately  to  life  the  more 
forcible  the  attempt  made  to  wrest  it  from  bin). 


BEHEMOTH.  105 

• 

The  pale  Ague  assailed  him  with  its  whole  band 
of  forces  ;  throttling  him  by  the  throat,  as  it  were, 
it  essayed  by  rough  and  uncorteous  usage  to 
shake  the  vital  spirit  from  him,  but  it  adhered 
closer  and  closer,  and  the  attempt  of  nature  U> 
cast  off  the  pigmy  militant,  resembled  that  of  a 
horse,  in  whose  flank  on  a  mid-summer's  day  a 
burr  has  chanced  to  fix  itself:  he  feels  annoyed 
and  irritated — he  whisks  the  hairy  brush  to  and: 
fro— he  runs — ho  gallops — he  rears — he  plunges, 
but  all  in  vain,  the  barbarous  annoyance  clings 
to  him  with  the  more  zeal,  until,  at  some  quiet 
moment,  it  drops  gently  from  its  hold  and  dis 
turbs  him  no  more.  Thus  stood  the  account  be 
tween  Nature  and  Kluckhatch.  In  his  bed  he 
lay,  trembling  like  an  earthquake  or  an  ocean, 
under  the  coverlid.  After  a  while  the  ague  re*- 
laxed  and  the  fever  came  on, -and  then  he  sat  up 
in  his  couch  and  grasping  a  wooden  sword,  which 
had  been  made  to  amuse  his  sick  and  distem 
pered  fancy,  he  made  airy  thrusts  and  lounges, 
and  called  out  fes  if  he  were  plunging  it  deep  in 
invisible  ribs,  or  hacking  at  the  head  of  some 
monstrous  chimera.  Then  again  he  would  ap 
pear  to  seize  the  end  of  some  palpable  object,  and 
drawing  it  along  would  measure  and  cut  off 


y 


106  '  BEHEMOTH. 

»  * 

pieces  of  a  yard  in  length  at  a  time.  It  was  evU 
dent,  from  the  whole  tenor  of  his  strange  action, 
that  the  Mastodon  was  in  his  phantasy  ;  and  this 
was  amply  confirmed  by  his  breaking  out,  after 
the  fever  had  partially  subsided)  into  the  follow 
ing  wild  invective,  into  which  his  soul  seems  to 
have  thrown  its  whole  collected  powers : 

"  This  huge  bully  :  this  fleshly  continent :  this 
vagabond  traveller :  this  beast  mountain  :  this 
tornado  in  leather :  this  bristly  goblin  :"  ("Pray  be 
calm,  Kluchhatch,"  whispered  the  shock-headed 
youth,  who  stood  at  his  bed-side  terrified  and 
quaking) :  "  this  huge  moving  show  :  this  two- 
horned  wonder:  this  tempest  of  bull's  beef:  this 
land  leviathan:  fiend:  wood-elf:  this  devil's 
ambassador  :  this  territory  of  calves'  hide  stretch 
ed  on  a  mountain  :  this  untanned  libel  on  leather- 
dressers  :  this  unhung  homicide  :"  ("  Uncle 
Kluckhatch,"  again  interrupted  his  attendant, 
"  Uncle  Kluckhatch,  wherefore  do  you  rail  after 
this  fashion  ?  you  but  madden  your  fever") : 
"  this  Empire  of  bones  and  sinew :  this  monstrous 
Government  on  legs  :  this  Tyrant  with  a  tail : 
this  rake-hell  y :  this  night-brawler:  this  mea 
sureless  disgust :  this  lusty  thresher  with  his  end 
less  flail :  this  magnified  ox :  this  walking  abomi- 


BEHEMOTH.  107 

nation  :  this  enormous  Discord  sounding  in  bass : 
this  huge,  tuneless  trombone" — 

The  sick  dwarf  fell  back  on  his  pillow  exhaust 
ed,  his  lips  still  moving  as  if  laden  with  other 
bitter  epithets  of  denunciation.  His  hour  now 
rapidly  drew  nigh.  His  strength  gradually  ebbed 
away,  and  at  length  the  conviction  that  he  must 
die  forced  its  way  into  the  heavy  brain  of  Kluck- 
Jiatch,  In  a  few  words  he  made  his  humble  and 
of  course  lean  will.  "  I  leave,"  said  he  to  his 
gaping  companion — "  I  leave  to  you  my  fame, 
my  virtues,  and  my  drum !"  He  then  gave  di 
rections  for  his  burial,  which,  if  obeyed,  would 
make  it  a  spectacle  rare  and  unexampled  :  and, 
rising  once  more  in  his  bed,  he  said  he  wished  to 
expire  in  a  sitting  attitude. 

Tho  last  sinking  wave  of  life  was  dying  upon 
the  shore.  His  simple  attendant  had  taken  in  his 
hand,  to  survey  its  fashion  and  properties)  the 
testamentary  bequest  of  his  departing  friend.— 
"  Strike  up  !  strike  up  once  more  P  exclaimed 
Kluckhatch,  as  his  eye  kindled  with  the  gleam  of 
death,  and  as  the  first  sounds  rolled  from  the 
drum,  under  the  obedient  hand  of  its  new  pos 
sessor,  the  spirit  of  the  pretender,  mingling  with 
them,  left  the  earth. 


108  BEHEMOTH. 

The  second  morning  after  his  death,  at  an  early 
hour,  the  funeral  procession  set  out  from  the 
doraicil  of  Kluckhatch  for  the  tomb  of  his  fore 
fathers:  a  snug  family-vault  just  beyond  the 
skirts  of  the  town.  Under  the  direction  of  the 
shock-headed  youth,  who  enacted  the  master  of 
ceremonies,  the  solemn  cavalcade  was  drawn  up 
and  proceeded  in  the  following  order : 

First,  led  on  by  the  legatee  himself,  in  front  of 
whose  person  hung  suspended  the  testamentary 
drum,  hobbled  slowly  along  a  sorry  and  cadaver 
ous  jade,  which  had  been  the  pack-saddle  of 
Kluckhatch  in  his  strolling  tours.  One  eye  of 
the  sad  creature  was  wholly  closed  and  useless, 
but  the  other,  as  if  to  make  amends,  was  a  sea- 
green  orb  of  twice  the  ordinary  dimension,  and 
with  its  ample  circle  of  white  blazed  like  the 
moon  crossing  the  milky-way  in  the  sky.  His 
lank,  hollow  body  bore  clear  evidence  of  the  ne 
glected  meadows  and  scant  mangers  of  the  Hound- 
builders  ;  for  he  had  been  on  fast  (broken  by 
occasional  spare  morsels)  for  more  than  a  month, 
and  glided  along  in  the  procession  like  a  spectre. 
Behind  this  monkish-looking  beast  followed  a 
low  wagon  or  four-wheeled  cart,  drawn  by  a  pair 
of  venerable  and  spiritless  bisons,  in  which  sai« 


BEHEMOTH.  109 

the  blusterer  himself,  erect,  and  in  the  costume  of 
every-day  life,  his  strange  red  coat,  shining,  like 
a  meteor,  conspicuous  from  afar,  while  his  conical 
cap  nodded  gaily  to  the  one  side  or  the  other,  as 
the  wind  swayed  it.    The  strange  whipster  held 
the  reins  firmly  between  his  skeleton  fingers  and 
exhibited  on  his  countenance  a  broad,  ghastly 
grin,  which,  at  the  first  view,  startled  the  behold 
ers,  but  after  they  had  recovered  from  the  shock, 
caused  them  to  burst  into  a  hearty  laugh.    On 
each  side  of  the  vehicle,  thus  strangely  driven, 
marched,  in  serious  order,  six  sturdy  men,  each 
bearing  a  huge  rustic  pipe  or  whistle,  wrought  of 
reed,  on  which  they  blew  soft  and  melancholy 
music.    Behind  the  wagon,  the  favorite  dog  of 
Kluckhatch,  crest-fallen  and  whining,  was  led  in 
a  string.    In  the  rear  of  this  faithful  mourner 
followed  the  friends  and  admirers  of  the  de 
ceased,  and  after  these  scrambled  a  promiscuous 
rout  of  his  townspeople,  of  every  variety,  age, 
sex  and  hue. 

Creation  itself,  both  overhead  and  on  the  earth, 
was  something  in  unison  with  the  grotesque  ob 
sequies.  The  sky  resembled  the  bottom  of  a 
rich  sea  suddenly  disclosed.  In  one  quarter  a  vast 
cloud,  like  a  whale,  floundered  and  tumbled  over 
10 


110  BEHEMOTH. 

the  azure  depths,     In  another,  the  clouds  lay 
piled  in  heaps  of  shining  silver ;  here  they  as 
sumed  the  form  of   a  shattered  wreck,  fleecy 
vapors  standing  out  as  mast  or  bowsprit,  with  - 
evanescent  bars  for  rigging,  and  there  a  black  and 
jagged  mass  of  them  stretched  along  like  a  reef 
of  dangerous  and  stubborn  rocks.    Lower  down, 
a  small,  dismantled  fragment,  mottled  with  white 
sunlit  scales,  represented  a  mackerel  at  full  lengtli, 
opening  his  mouth  and  biting  at  the  tail  of  a 
cloudy  grampus,  that  stood  rampant  just  over 
head.     In  the  mid-air,  drawn  thither  by  the 
strangely  exposed  remains  of  Kluckhatch,  a  sable- 
coated  troop  of  ravens  kept  the  procession  com 
pany,  occasionally  demanding,  in  coarse,  rude 
clamors,  their  reversionary  right  in  the  deceased; 
Now  and  then  a  timid  bird  put  forth  his  head 
from  the  trees  and  bushes  at  the  road-side,  and 
twittering  for  a  moment,  and  seeming  to  smile  at 
the  defunct  rider,  hopped  back  into  its  cool  hiding 
place. 

In  k  little  while  they  reached  tbe  place  of 
burial;  a  small,  suburban  vault,  the  passage  to 
which,  through  a  wooden  door,  led  down  to  a 
score  of  cells  or  apartments,  all  of  which,  save 
one,  woro  occupied.  Over  the  entrance  to  th« 


BEHEMOTH.  Ill 

vault  stood  the  weather-bleached  skeleton  of  a 
robustious  ancestor  of  Kluckhatch,  balancing  on 
one  of  his  short,  stout  legs,  flourishing  the  other 
as  if  in  the  act  of  going  through  a  piroifette — 
and  holding  in  his  out-stretched  right  hand  the 
effigies  of  an  owl,  the  favorite  family-bird  and. 
device.  *\ 

For  what  reason,  or  whether  for  any,  the  little, 
queer  skeleton  occupied  this  position,  it  would 
be  now  difficult  to  decide.  Perhaps  in  his  life 
time  he  had  been  a  hard,  weather-beaten  hunter, 
who  preferred  to  be  left  thus  in  the  free,  naked 
air,  and  under  the  open  sky,  which  during  life 
he  had  enjoyed  without  stint  or  circumscription. 
Passing  underneath  the  figure  of  this  portentous 
guardian  and  through  the  passage,  they  bore  the 
mortal  remains  of  the  last  of  the  Kluckhatch's, 
and  placed  them  in  their  upright  posture  in  the 
only  cell  which  remained  untenanted.  The  mo» 
ment  it  was  known  that  the  corse  was  deposited 
in  its  final  place  of  rest,  the  twelve  stout  whistlers 
let  off  four  successive  volleys  of  their  peculiar 
music  ;  the  dog  came  forward  and  howled,  and 
the  shock-headed  youth  stood  at  the  entrance  of 
the  vault  sobbing  and  weeping,  while  the  beast, 
whose  halter  he  held  in  his  hand,  silently  de- 


112  BEHEMOTH. 

voured  the  drum-head,  and  looked  inside  for 
further  viands.  A  few  moments  mere  and  the 
door  was  closed  for  ever  between  the  world  and 
Kiuckhatch. — 

The  unexpected  departure  of  Bokulla  from 
their  midst  had  been  a  source  of  fruitful  and  anx 
ious  speculation  to  the  Mound-builders.  They 
were  conscious  of  his  absence,  as  if  the  great  orb 
itself  had  left  the  skies  and  deprived  the  earth  of 
its  light  and  influence.  His  presence  diffused 
amongst  them  the  only  cheerful  ray  that  enlight 
ened  their  gloomy  condition ;  and  although  his 
recent  enterprise  had  proved  disastrous,  they 
were  satisfied  that  the  great  chieftain  would 
promptly  grasp  the  first  favoring  circumstance 
and  energetically  use  it  against  the  fearful  foe.  . 

Of  the  causes  of  his  absence  none  were  advised, 
nor  as  to  the  direction  his  steps  had  taken.  Some 
dreaded  lest  he  had  gone  forth  to  perish  by  his  own 
hand  in  the  wilderness ;  and  by  these  scouts  had 
been  dismissed  in  every  quarter  to  bring  back  the 
fugitive  warrior,  or  his  body,  for  honorable  sepul 
ture  if  he  had  perished.  The  agitation  and  fear, 
excited  by  the  causeless  and  unexplained  absence 
of  Bokulla,  were  only  less  than  those  occasioned 
by  the  terrible  presence  of  the  Mastodon.  His 


BEHEMOTH.  113 

return,  therefore,  was  welcomed  with  every  de 
monstration  of  rejoicing.  Lights  were  displayed 
as  glad  signals,  from  every  tower ;  processions 
and  cavalcades  were  formed  to  make  triumphal 
marches  through  the  realm,  and  bodies  of  citi 
zens  constantly  gathered  under  the  window  of 
the  chieftain  to  express  their  delight  at  his  re 
turn.  During  a  whole  week  this  universal  fes 
tivity  was  sustained,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  flow 
er  of  national  hope  once  more  blossomed  in  their 
midst4  Merry  games  were  celebrated  in  their 
gardens :  religious  worship  again  assumed  its 
robe,  and  walked  forth  with  serene  and  placid  fea 
tures  in  the  traces  of  its  early  duty. 

What  gave  additional  animation  to  this  un 
wonted  scene  was,  that  Behemoth,  during  its  con 
tinuance,  ceased  to  sadden  or  alarm  them  with 
his  presence  ;  it  may  have  been  that  the  dazzling 
splendor  of  the  illumination,  and  the  loud  sound 
of  innumerable  instruments  all  playing  together, 
kept  him  back. 

About  two  weeks  after  the  return  of  the  self- 
exiled  chieftain,  and  at  the  close  of  their  joyous 
celebrations,  he  appeared  before  the  Mound-build 
ers,  and  declared  "  that  his  strange  and  unexplain*  - 
ed  absence  had  not  been  without  its  uses.  Na- 
10* 


114  BEHEMOTH. 

hire,"  he  said,  "  had  put  forth  her  mighty  hand 
and  generously  furnished  the  means  of  deliver 
ance.    Liberty  was  now  before  them,  but  it  must 
be  attained  through  many  perils  and  through  toil, 
sanctified,  perchance)  with  blood.  Like  the  swim 
mer  that  nears  the  shore,  they  must  now  buffet 
the  wave  of  hostile  fortune  with  their  sternest 
strength.    It  might  be  that  once  more  the  firm 
and  smiling  continent  of  joy,  of  honor,  and  peace, 
could  be  reached.    If  so,  heaven  should  be  prais 
ed  with  a  deep  sense  of  gratitude,  and  the  realm 
should  ring  through  all  its  borders  with  sounds  of 
glorious  triumph  !;) 

He  then  stated  that  he  had  discovered  in  his 
wanderings  a  mighty  meadow  where  Behemoth 
was  wont  to  pasture ;  and  that  if  they  would 
choose  a  delegation  to  visit  it  in  company  with 
himself,  he  would  endeavor  to  point  them  to  a 
sure  and  safe  method  of  subduing  the  enemy. 

At  this  suggestion  the  populace  shouted  loudly 
and  echoed  the  name  of  Bokulla  with  the  most 
eager  and  fervent  expressions  of  admiration. 
Theyf  readily  appointed  three  eminent  citizens  to 
accompany  him.  The  next  morning  they  set 
out,  and  having  in  due  course  of  time  reached 


BEHEMOTH.  1 15 

the  locality,  they  selected  an  elevation  which 
commanded  the  whole  prospect  at  once. 

AU   admitted,  as  they  looked  upon  the  high 
walls  that  girt  the  broad  and  spacious  meadow, 
and  on  the  single  narrow  opening  which  led 
from  the  enclosure,  that  nature  had  furnished  an 
extraordinary  aid  toward  the  capture  of  the  in 
vincible  brute.    Far  around  on  both  sides  from 
the  central  position  which  they  occupied,  the 
stupendous   upright   battlement   of   mountains 
stretched — a  peak  here  and  there  shooting  up  an 
immense  tower,  and  a  crag  occasionally  thru  sting 
itself  forth  from  the  general  mass  of  perpendicu 
lar  rocks  like  the  quaint  head  of  a  beast,  or  tho 
rugged  and  ugly  features  of  a  human  being,  as 
the  fancy  chose  to  give  it  shape  and  likeness. 
The  whole  hedged  in  a  meadow  covered  witli 
a  fertile  growth  of  tall,  rich  verdure — dotted  by 
a  few  scattered  trees— and  intersected  by  a  stream 
of  considerable  breadth  and  depth,  which  flowed 
through  its  centre,  and  formed  an  outlet  in  a  nar 
row  jmssage  underneath  the  mountains.    The 
natural  opening  leading  from  this  broad  enclo 
sure,  was  about  five  hundred  feet  wide,  and 
walled  on  either  side  by  gigantic  fragments  of 
stone,  from  whose  huge  posterns  it  seemed  as  if 


116  BEHEMOTH. 

in  an  earlier  age  of  the  world  an  immense  gate 
may  have  swung  and  shut  in  captives  of  mighty 
size  and  fearful  guilt.  Nothing  could  be  con- 
ceived  a  more  secure  and  dreadful  prison  than 
these  vast  walls  of  rock:  and  no  solitude  could 
be  more  dreary  than  one  thus  fortified  as  it  were 
by  nature,  and  made  sublimely  desolate  by  bar 
riers  and  enclosures  like  these. 

All  felt,  thus  gazing,  the  grandeur  of  the 
thought  presented  to  their  mind  by  Bokulla,  and 
they  turned  and  looked  upon  the  countenance  of 
the  chieftain  as  if  they  expected  to  discover  there 
features  more  than  human.  Bokulla  stood  silent. 
He  wished  the  great  plan  to  sink  deep  in  their 
minds,  while  they  were  on  the  very  spot  where  it 
had  its  birth,  and  where  it  was  to  achieve  (if 
fortune  permitted)  its  eventful  success. 

"  The  thought  is  mighty  and  worthy  of  Bo 
kulla!"  at  length,  exclaimed  one  of  his  ^com 
panions,  a  man  of  a  generous  and  ardent  heart ; 
"Here  we  triumph  or  the  story  of  our  life  closes  in 
endless  defeat,  and  our  fate  makes  us  and  .ours 
perpetual  bondmen." 

11  Who  is  it,"  interposed  a  second  of  less  san 
guine  temper,  "wlio  is  it  that  dare  visit  the  pan 
ther  in  his  den  ?  or  grasp  the  thunder  from  its 


BEHEMOTH.  117 

cloud  on  the  mountain  top  ? — Itwere  as  safe  to 
climb  into  the  eagle's  nest  as  disturb  this  mon 
strous  creature  in  his  lair !" 

"  Terrible  as  the  North  when  it  lightens  and 
is  full  of  storms — inexorable  as  death,  will  be 
the  encounter  !"  cried  a  supporter  of  the  second 
speaker — "  I  would  sooner  plunge  headlong  from 
a  tower,  than  venture  within  this  guarded  en 
closure  !" 

"What  say  you,  my  friends!"  cried  Bokulla, 
springin  g  to  his  feet,  "  what  say  you  to  an  em 
bassy  to  the  brute  on  bended  knee  1  I  doubt  not 
if  we  came  as  humble  worshippers  and  suppli 
ants,  and  consented  to  choose  him  as  our  national 
idol,  he  would  abate  something  of  his  fierceness!" 

"  Now  heaven  and  all  good  planets  forbid !" 
cried  his  companions,  with  one  accord. 

"  Nothing  better  and  nothing  nobler,  then,  may 
be  tried,  than  the  great  suggestion  of  Bokulla !" 
said  the  first  speaker.  "Here  let  us  wrestle  with 
fate  and  die,  then,  if  die  we* must,  in  this  broad 
and  open  arena,  where  the  heavens  themselves, 
and  the  inexorable  stars,  shall  be  witnesses  of  our 
struggle  P 

Taking  up  their  position  on  an  elevated  rock, 
shaded  by  trees  which  overlooked  the  whole 


118  BEHEMOTH. 

scene,  they  consulted  as  to  the  most  proper  and 
speedy  method  of  accomplishing  their  purpose. 

After  a  consultation  of  several  hours,  during 
which  the  sun  had  fallen  far  in  the  west,  and 
after  weighing  anxiously  every  circumstance  that 
could  have  bearing  or  influence  on  the  event, 
they  determined  in  their  open  council-chambe?, 
amid  the  solemn  silence  of  the  wilderness,  that 
an  attempt  must  be  made  to  imprison  Behemoth 
in  the  vast,  natural  dungeon  at  their  feet,  by 
building  a  stout  wall  across  its  present  opening. 

And  furthermore,  that  it  would  be  matter  of 
after  thought  to  decide,  if  successful  in  the  first, 
by  what  means  his  death  was  to  be  wrought. 
Their  resolves  had  scarcely  taken  this  shape, 
when  a  heavy  shadow  fell  suddenly  in  their 
midst,  as  if  a  thick  cloud  had  covered  the  sun, 
and  looking  forth  for  its  source,  they  beheld 
Behemoth  walking  silently  and  ponderously  along 
the  ridge  of  the  opposite  mountains.  (2)  They 
arrested  their  deliberations,  and  rising  in  a  body, 
watched  the  progress  and  actions  fcof  the  Brute. 
In  a  short  time  he  descended  from  the  summit, 
and  attaining  its  foot  by  a  sloping  and  broad  path. 
in  a  moment  presented  himself  at  the  gap,  which 
conducted  into  the  mountainous  amphitheatre. 


BEHEMOTH.  119 

Stalking  through,  he  advanced  to  its  far  extremi 
ty,  and  stretching  himself  on  the  bank  of  the 
stream,  and  in  the  cool  shadow  of  the  mountains, 
he  prepared  for  repose. 

His  companions  had  already  learned  from  Bo- 
kulla,  that  the  Mastodon  was  in  the  habit  of 
paying  long  periodical  visits  to  this  place,  and  of 
feeding,  for  considerable  periods  of  time,  on  its 
abundant  and  savory  verdure.  Nothing  could 
have  been  more  opportune  to  their  consultation 
than  the  arrival  of  Behemoth.  His  sudden 
coming  was  an  argument  for  activity  and  des 
patch. 

The  fifth  day  from  this,  the  Mound-builders  ar 
rived  in  considerable  numbers,  in  a  wood  near 
the  amphitheatre,  bringing  with  them  in  wagons 
the  tools  and  implements  required  in  the  pro 
posed  labor.  They  immediately  set  about  the 
task,  and  commenced  hewing  large  blocks  of  stone 
and  dragging  them  to  the  mouth  of  the  gap,  but 
not  so  near  as  to  obstruct  it.  The  whole  body 
of  workmen  that  had  come  from  the  Mound- 
builders'  villages  had  labored  at  this  task  for  a 
week,  and  they  found  that  in  that  time  sufficient 
stone  had  been  hewn  to  build  the  wall  from  base 
to  summit.  Each  block  was  more  than  twelve 


120  BF.HEMOTH. 

feet  square,  and  through  its  centre  was  drilled  a 
hole  of  some  sir  inches  diameter,  in  which  to 
insert  bars  of  metal,  to  bind  them-raore  firmly  to 
gether. 

As  soon  as  they  were  prepared  to  commence 
the  erection  of  the  wjall,  which  was  the  most 
critical  part  of  their  labors,  four  or  five  separate 
bands  of  musicians  were  stationed  at  the  farther 
end  of  the  enclosure,  and  near  to  Behemoth :  for 
they  knew,  from  Bokulla's  report,  that  the  Mas 
todon,  mighty  and  terrible  as  he  was,  could  be 
soothed  by  the  influence  of  music,  adroitly  man 
aged. 

The  moment  the  work  of  heaving  the  vast 
square  blocks  one  upon  the  other  began,  the  mu 
sicians,  at  a  given  signal,  commenced  playing. 
and  during  the  progress  of  the  labor,  ran  through 
all  the  variety  of  gentle  tunes  :  so  that  the  wall. 
like  that  of  Amphion,  sprang  up  under  the  spell 
of  music.  So  cunningly  did  the  different  band 
master  their  instruments,  that,'at  three  differed 
times,  when  the  Mastodon  had  turned  his  stej 
toward  the  gap  at  which  the  Mound-builders 
labored,  they  lured  him  buck  and  held  him  spell 
bound  and  motionless. 

The  blocks  were  hoisted  to  their  places  by 


BEHEMOTH.  121 

cranes,  and  the  utmost  silence  was  observed  in 
every  movement ;  not  even  a  voice  was  lifted  to 
command,  but  every  direction  was  given  with 
the  pointed  finger.  No  one  moved  from  his  sta 
tion  during  the  hours  of  toil,  but  each  stood  on 
his  post  and  executed  his  portion  of  the  task 
like  a  part  of  the  machinery.  And  yet  there  was 
no  lack  of  spirit ;  every  one  labored  as  if  for  his 
own  individual  redemption,  and  one  who  beheld 
them  plying  amid  the  massive  fragments  of 
granite,  silent  and  busy,  might  have  thought  that 
they  were  some  rebellious  crew  of  beings  brought 
into  the  wilderness  by  a  genius  or  necromancer, 
and  there  compelled,  speechless  and  uncomplain 
ing,  to  do  his  bidding.(3) 

They  labored  in  this  way  for  more  than  a 
month,  and^at  the  end  of  that  time,  Bokulla  pro 
claimed  fronrite  summit  that  the  wall  was  com 
pleted.  At  the  announcement,  the  whole  host  of 
artizans  and  laborers;  and  innumerable  women 
and  children,  who  had  come  from  the  villages, 

sent  up  a  shout  thai  rent  the  air.    Behemoth 

v** 
heard  it,  and,  listening  only  for  a  moment,  browsed 

on  among  the  tall  grass  as  if  regardless  of  its 
ource  and  its  object."  In  a  few  days,  however, 
after  the  music  had  ceased  its  gentle  influence, 
11 


122  BEHEMOTH. 

and  the  supply  of  pasturage  began  to  be  less  luxu 
riant,  the  Mastodon  made  progress  toward  the 
old  outlet)  with  the  determination  of  seeking  food 
elsewhere. 

He,  of  course,  sought  an  outlet  in  vain,  and 
found  himself  standing  at  the  base  of  an  immense 
rampart,  which  shot  sheer  up  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  in  air.  He  surveyed  the  structure,  and 
soon  discovered  that  it  was  no  trifling  barrier,  but 
a  mighty  pile  of  rocks,  that  showed  themselves 
almost  as  massive  and  firm  as  the  mountains 
which  they  bound  together.  At  first  Behemoth 
thought  although  it  would  be  idle  to  attempt 
to  shake  the  whole  mass  at  once,  that  yet  the 
separate  parts  might  be  removed  block  by  block, 
With  this  purpose  he  endeavored  to  force  his 
white  tusks  between  them,  but  it  was  in.vaiir, 
they  wore  knit  too  firmly  together  to  be  sundered. 
At  length  the  great  Brute  was  maddened  by  these 
fruitless  efforts,  and  retreating  several  hundred 
rods,  he  rushed  against  the  wall  with  tremendous 
strength  and  fury. 

The  Mound-builders,  who  overlooked  the 
structure,  trembled  for  its  safety,  but  it  stood  stiff, 
and  the  shock  caused  Behemoth  to  recoil  discom 
fited,  while  the  earth  shook  with  the  weight  and 


BEHEMOTH.  123 

violence  of  tho  motion.    Over  and  over  again 
these  assaults  were  repeated,  always  with  the 
same  result.    Wearied  with  the  attempt,  the  Mas 
todon  desisted,  and  returned  to  feed  upon  the 
diminished  pasturage,  which  he  had  before  de_ 
serted,    He  had  soon  browsed  on  it  to  its  very 
roots,  and  began  to  feed  on  the  commoner  grass 
*  and  weeds,  scarcely  palatable.    In  a  day  these 
had  all  vanished,  and  he  turned  to  the  trees  which 
were  here  and  there  scattered  over  the  meadow. 
These  he  devoured,  foliage,  limb,  and  trunk.— 
[n  a  few  days  they  were  wholly  exhausted,  and 
the  enclosed  plain  was  reduced  to  a  desert — pas- 
tureless,  herbless,  and  treeless. 

The  impatience  and  wrath  of  Behemoth  now 
knew  no  bounds.  He  saw  no  possible  mode  of 
escape  from  this  dreary  and  foodless  waste. 
Around  and  around  the  firm  Colosseum  which 
enclosed  him,  he  rushed  maddened,  bellowing, 
and  foaming. 

At  times,  in  his  fury,  be  pushed  up  the  almost 
perpendicular  sides  of  the  mountains  and  recoiled, 
bringing  with  himshattered  fragments  of  rock  and 
large  masses  of  earth,  with  fearful  force  and 
swiftness.  Around  and  around  he  again  galloped 
and  trampled,  shaking  the  very  mountains  with 


124  BEHEMOTH. 

bis  ponderous  motions,  and  filling  their  whole 
circuit  with  his  terrible  bowlings  and  cries.  The 
Mound-builders,  who  stood  upon  the  wall,  and  on 
different  parts  of  the  mountains,  shrunk  back 
affrighted  and  awe-stricken  before  the  deadly 
glare  of  his  eye,  and  the  fearful  and  agonizing 
sound  of  his  voice. 

Day  by  day  he  became  more  furious,  and  his 
roar  assumed  a  more  touching  and  dreadful  sharp 
ness.  All  sustenance  was  gone  from  the  plain. 
The  whole  space  within  his  reach  furnished 
nothing  but  rocks  and  earth,  for  he  had  already 
drunk  the  stream  dry  to  its  channel. 

The  mighty  Brute  was  perishing  of  hunger  in 
the  centre  of  his  prison. 

His  strength  was  now  too  far  wasted  to  admit 
of  those  violent  and  gigantic  efforts  which  he  had 
at  first  made  to  escape  from  the  famine-stricken 
enclosure,  and  he  now  stalked  up  and  down  its 
barren  plain,  uttering  awful  and  heart-rending 
cries,  Some  of  the  Mound-builders  who  heard 
them,  and  who  saw  the  agonies  and  sufferings  of 
Behemoth,  although  he  had  been  their  most  cruel 
enemy,  could  not  refrain  from  tears.  So  univer 
sal  is  humanity  in  its  scope,  that  it  can  feel  for 
every  thing  that  has  life. 


BEHBMOTH.  125 

Howling  and  stalking,  like  a  shadow  momently 
diminishing,  he  walked  to  and  fro  in  this  way  for 
many  days.  Hunger  hourly  extended  its  mastery 
through  his  immense  frame.  At  about  mid-day 
in  the  third  week  of  his  imprisonment,  he  cast 
his  eye  upon  the  cavernous  and  now  dusty  open 
ing  through  which  the  river  that  watered  the. 
plain  had  been  accustomed  to  find  its  way.  It  was 
broad  and  open  and  of  considerable  height  Into 
this  Behemoth  now  turned  his  steps,  Its  mouth 
was  larger  than  the  inner  passage,  for  time  and 
tempest  had  worn  away  the  rocks  which  once 
guarded  it. 

As  lie  advanced  it  diminished,  and  ere  his 
whole  bulk  had  entered  the  channel,  it  became 
so  narrow  and  confined  that  he  was  forced  to  sink 
on  his  knees,  in  order  to  make  further  progress. 
This  labor  soon  proved  vexatious  and  toilsome, 
and  the  Mastodon,  willing  to  force  a  way  where 
one  was  not  to  be  found,  or  to  perish  in  the  en 
deavor,  raised  himself  slowly  toward  an  upright 
position. 

The  remnant  of  his  strength  proved  to  be  fear* 
ful,  for,  as  his  broad  shoulders  pressed  upon  the 
rocks  above  him,  the  incumbent  mountain  trem 
bled,  and  when  he  had  attained  his  full  stature  by 

r 


BEHEMOTH. 

a  last  powerful  effort,  the  impending  rocks  rolled 
back  and  forth,  and  fell  with  a  resounding  crash 
and  in  great  fragments  to  the  earth.  The  whole 
cone  of  the  mountain  had  been  loosened  from  its 
base,  and  leaning  for  a  moment,  like  a  lurid  cloud, 
in  mid-air,  fell  into  the  plain  with  terrible  ruin, 
bearing  down  a  whole  forest  of  trees  and  the 
earth  in  which  they  had  taken  root. 

Fortunately  for  Behemoth— unfortunately  for 
the  object  of  the  Mound-builders — the  rocks 
which  immediately  over-hung  Behemoth,  though 
rent  in  several  places,  did  not  give  way,  but  so  in 
terlocked  and  pressed  against  each  other  as  lo 
form  a  solid  arch  over  his  head  and  leave  him  un 
harmed  amid  the  ruins,  Passage  through  the 
channel  was,  however,  wholly  arrested  by  the 
large  masses  of  earth  that  had  fallen  into  it,  and 
Behemoth  finding  it  vain  to  attempt  to  pass 
farther  onward,  withdrew. 

The  fatal  time  drew  nearer  and  nearer.  Hun 
dreds  and  thousands  of  the  Mound-builders  ga 
thered  from  every  quarter  of  the  Empire  to  look 
upon  the  last  hour  of  the  mighty  Creature  which 
lay  extended,  in  his  whole  vast  length,  in  the  plain. 
A  catastrophe  and  show  like  that  was  not  to  be 
foregone,  for  it  might  never  (and  so  they  prayed) 


BEHEMOTH.  127 

come  again.  Death  and  the  Mastodon  held  a  fear-  * 
ful  encounter  in  the  arena  below.  Nations  looked 
down  from  the  wall  and  the  mountains  on  the 
strange  and  terrible  spectacle. 

To  and  fro  the  whole  famished  bulk  moved 
with  the  convulsions,  and  spasms,  and  devouring 
agonies  of  hunger.  At  times  the  Brute  raised  his 
large  countenance  toward  heaven,  and  howled 
forth  a  cry  which,  it  seemed,  might  bring  down 
the  gods  to  his  succor. 

On  the  fortieth  day  Behemoth  died  and  left  his 
huge  bones  extended  on  the  plain  like  the  wreck 
of  some  mighty  ship  stranded  there  by  a  Deluge, 
to  moulder  century  after  century,  to  be  scattered 
through  a  continent  by  a  later  convulsion,  and, 
finally,  to  become  the  wonder  of  the  Present 
Time. 


NOTES. 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE. 


THE  chief  object  of  the   following  notes   is  to 
confirm  what  may  seem  the  hazardous  assertions  of 
the  text,  and  to  show  that  imagination,   wherever 
practicable,   has   helped   itself  cautiously  forward 
by  a  hand  placed  on  the  shoulder  of  fact.     Many  of 
the  extracts  from  antiquarian  or  scientific    worke, 
may  seem  to  the  general  reader  of  unusual  length, 
but  he  may  rest  assured,  that  they  all  contain  mat 
ter  in  which  he  may  reasonably  feel  some  interest. 
The  facts  connected  with  the  subjects  of  this  work, 
have  furnished  for  many  years  topics  for  the  zealous 
and  enthusiastic  research  and  discussion  of  intel 
ligent  Americans  throughout  the   whole   country, 
tnd  which  are  likely  to  prove  more  attractive  to  the 
imagination,  the  farther  we  recede  from  the  gray 
and  venerable  age  in  which  they  existed.    As  our 
own  history  assumes  a  prouder  and  loftier  crest  in 
the  noonday  concourse  and  throng  of  nations,  she 
will  more  fondly  and  reverently  cast  back  her  regards 
toward  the  first  fountains  of  her  origin.     Is  it  too 
much  a  pastime  of  the  fancy  to  believe  that,  aa 
Americans,  in  the  progress  of  time,  attain  the  sta 
ture  of  a  generous  manhood,  they  will  more  affec 
tionately  grasp  the  shadowy  hand  extended  to  them 


132  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

by  that  dead  old  nation  that  built  the  mounds.  The 
swifter  the  present  time  yields  its  concerns  and 
its  labors  to  the  simple  agency  of  steam  and  iron, 
the  more  earnestly,  it  seems  to  me,  will  it  look  back 
to  that  great  embodiment  of  natural  and  unme- 
chanical  strength,  the  Mastodon  of  the  western 
prairie.  As  men  and  day-laborers  we  dwell  in  the 
present — as  gods  and  diviner  beings,  we  reside  in  the 
past  and  the  future ! 

History  nor  chronicle  presents  to  the  mind  a 
more  august  or  imposing  subject  of  speculation 
than  the  unrecorded  race  that  has  departed  like  a 
shadow,  from  the  glorious  and  magnificent  west, 
Here  we  can  enjoy  a  spectacle  of  which  the  imagi 
nation  is  chief  architect,  where  no  vulgar  circum 
stance  intrudes,  and  where  the  actors  are  heroic 
and  all  the  decorations  in  the  highest  style  the  fancy 
chooses  to  furnish.  On  the  great  rivers  of  the  west 
we  may  launch,  in  that  remote  and  doubtful  age, 
the  mightiest  ships  with  wide  spread  sails,  and  on 
their  banks  we  may  rear  the  gorgeous  palace  and 
solemn  temple  without  the  meaner  aid  of  builder 
or  mason.  Who  shall  gainsay  the  cheerful  and 
glorious  labors  of  the  fancy  ?  Into  our  minds  let 
a  thousand  tender  and  affecting  thoughts  enter  of 
the  lovers  that  have  wooed,  and  wooed  in  vain,  of 
hearts  that  have  broken  in  the  agony  of  sharp  be* 
reavements,  of  ambition  deposed  and  genius  blight 
ed  within  the  walls  of  that  ancient  and  departed 
people.  Who  will  refuse  to  the  heart  this  melan 
choly  pleasure  i  It  is  good  for  us  to  have  that  part 
of  our  nature  which  connects  us  with  far-off  limes, 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE.  138 

awakened  and  kindled.  A  decaying  bone,  an  old 
helmet,  a  mouldering  fragment  of  wall  or  hearth 
stone,  may  call  us  back  into  centuries  that  are  gone, 
and  make  us  feel  our  kindred  with  generations 
buried  long  ago. 


12 


NOTE   TO  PREFACE. 


THE  following  passages  are  quoted  from  the  in 
teresting  paper  on  "  THB  GIGANTIC  MASTODON/'  in 
Godman's  "  American  Natural  Hittory." 

11  In  various  parts  of  North  America  single  bones 
of  extraordinary  size  had  been  occasionally  disinter- 
.red,  without  exciting  more  than  temporary  curiosi 
ty,  or  leading  to  any  thing  better  than  wild  and  un 
satisfactory  speculation.  Some  persons  regarded 
them  as  the  relics  of  a  gigantic  race  of  men,  of  whose 
existence  no  other  traces  remained  :  others,  who  ap 
peared  willing  to  surpass  all  absurdity,  suggested 
that  they  might  have  belonged  to  the  angels  who 
were  expelled  their  celestial  habitations  ;  while  a 
third,  and  more  rational  party,  concluded  that  they 
were  the  bones  of  an  animal  still  in  existence,  or  be 
longed  to  a  larger  variety  of  the  well  known  ele 
phant  species.  The  inquiry  generally  ceased  when 
the  novelty  of  their  discovery  passed  away ;  those 
by  whom  they  were  found  were  in  pursuit  of  other 
objects,  and  very  frequently  neglected  to  preserve 
the  fragments  already  obtained.  But  when  situa- 


NOTE   TO   PREFACE.  135 

lions  wore  explored  whore  they  were  procured  in 
greater  abundance,  and  the  curiosity  of  European 
naturalists  was  awakened,  these  relics  were  eagerly 
sought  for,  until  nearly  a  whole  skeleton  was  ob 
tained  ;  the  fact  satisfactorily  established,  that  these 
bones  belonged  to  a  peculiar  race  never  before 
known,  and,  what  was  still  more  surprising,  that  the 
whole  race  was  utterly  extinct. 

We  find  as  early  as  the  year  1712,  a  letter  from 
Dr.  Mather  to   Dr.  Woodward,  published  in   the 
Philosophical  Transactions,  announcing  that  some 
bones  and  teeth  of  a  monstrous  size  had  been  dis 
covered  at  Albany  in  New-York.    In  the  year  1739, 
some  savages  belonging  to  the  company  of  a  French 
officer,  named  Longueil,  who  was  descending  the 
Ohio  to  the  Mississippi,  found,  at  a  short  distance 
from  the  river,  at  the  edge  of  a  marsh,  some  bones, 
grinders  and  tusks,  belonging  to  this  unknown  ani 
mal.     The  year  after  Longueil  took  to  Paris  a  thigh 
bone,  the  extremity  of  a  tusk,  and  three  grinders, 
which  are  still  preserved   there.     Since  that  time 
these  bones  have  been  discovered  in  many  places  ; 
thouga,  in  consequence  of  the  notice  first  attracted 
by  the  specimens  found  on  the  Ohio  river,  the  name 
of  Animal  of  the  Ohio  had  been  bestowed  on  this 
creature,  yet  this  name,  and  that  of  Mammoth,  have 
at  length  been  entirely  superseded  by  that  proposed 
by  Cuvier.    About  the  year  1740,  vast  numbers  of 
these  bones,  which  had  been  washed  up  by  the  cur 
rent  of  the  Ohio,  or  were  purposely  digged  for,  were 
found  in  Kentucky.  The  eagerness  to  procure  them, 
and  the  baste  with  which  they  were  sent  to  Europe, 


136  NOTE   TO    PREFACE. 

retarded  the  knowledge  of  the  true  character  of  the 
animal— as  it  became  impossible  to  procure  or  re- 
cognise  the  bonea  belonging  to  different  skeletons, 
or  to  determine  their  exact  numbers  and  propor 
tions.  Over  France,  England  and  Germany,  they 
were  in  this  manner  scattered  in  confusion  ;  and  we 
need  not  be  surprised  that  naturalists  were  long  in 
forming  just  ideas  of  the  character  of  the  animal,  or 
indulged  so  much  the  disposition  to  maintain  theories 
established  on  such  slight  foundations.  The  force  of 
prejudice  may  be  clearly  seen  in  the  perseverance 
with  which  Button,  and  some  other  scientific  men, 
maintained  that  these  bones  belonged  to  a  variety  of 
the  elephant  race ;  for  if  he  admitted  that  they  did  not 
belong  to  that  kind,  he  must  have  acknowledged  that 
they  were  the  bones  of  an  extinct  genus,  which  was 
an  idea  not  then  proposed,  but  has  since  most  amply 
been' proved  true,  and  a  vast  number  of  extinct  ape* 
cies  discovered.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1601,  a 
period  of  eighty-nine  years  from  the  first  discovery  of 
the  bones  at  Albany,  that  any  hopes  were  entertain 
ed,  of  finding  an  entire  skeleton  of  this  wonderful 
and  interesting  animal.  In  the  year  1824,  a  consi 
derable  part  of  a  skeleton  was  raised  in  New- Jersey 
by  some  scientific  gentlemen  of  New- York  ;  but 
they  have  not  discovered  any  thing  more  than  was 
previously  made  known  by  the  exertions  of  Messrs. 
Peale  ;  the  head,  which  is  the  only  important  part 
wanting,  was  too  much  decomposed  to  enable  them 
to  form  any  idea  of  its  figure. 

The  emotions  experienced,  when  for   the   first 
time  we  behold  the  giant  relics  of  this  great  animal, 


NOTE   TO  PREFACE,  137 

are  those  of  un  mingled  awe.  We  cannot  avoid  re- 
fleeting  on  the  time  when  this  huge  frame  was  cloth 
ed  with  its  peculiar  integuments,  and  moved  by  ap 
propriate  muscles  ;  when  the  mighty  heart  dashed 
forth  its  torrents  of  blood  through  vessels  of  enor 
mous  caliberfand  the  Mastodon  strode  along  in  su 
preme  dominion  over  every  other  tenant  of  the  wil 
derness.  However  we  examine  what  is  left  to  us,  we 
cannot  help  feeling  that  this  animal  must  have  been 
endowed  with  a  strength  exceeding  that  of  other 
quadrupeds,  as  much  as  it  exceeded  them  in  size ; 
and,  looking  at  its  ponderous  jaws,  armed  with  teeth 
peculiarly  formed  for  the  most  effectual  crushing  of 
the  firmest  substances,  we  are  assured  that  its  life 
could  only  be  supported  by  the  destruction  of  vast 
quantities  of  food. 

Enormous  as  were  these  creatures  during  life, 
and  endowed  with  faculties  proportioned  to  the  bulk 
of  their  frames,  the  whole  race  has  been  extinct  for 
ages.  No  tradition  nor  human  record  of  their  ex 
istence  has  been  saved,  and  but  for  the  accidental 
preservation  of  a  comparatively  fewbones,  we  should 
'never  have  dreamed  that  a  creature  of  such  vast 
size  and  strength  once  existed, — nor  could  we  havo 
believed  that  such  a  race  had  been  extinguished  for 
ever. .  Such,  however,  is  the  fact — ages  after  ages 
have  rolled  away — empires  and  nations  have  risen, 
flourished, and  sunk  into  irretrievable  oblivion,  while 
the  bones  of  the  Mastodon,  which  perished  long  be* 
fore  the  period  of  their  origin,  have  been  discovered, 
scarcely  changed  in  color,  and  exhibiting  all  the 
marks  of  perfection  and  durability.  That  a  race  of 
12* 


138  NOTE  TO   PREFACE. 

animals  so  large,  and  consisting  of  so  many  species, 
should  become  entirely  and  universally  extinct,  is  a 
circumstance  of  high  interest ; — for  it  is  not  with  the 
Mastodon  as  with  the  Elephant,  which  still  contin 
ues  to  be  a  living  genus,  although  many  of  its  spe 
cies  have  become  extinct :— the  entire  race  of  the 
Mastodon  has  been  utterly  destroyed,  leaving  no 
thing  but  the  "  mighty  wreck"  of  their  skeletons,  to 
testify  that  they  once  were  among  the  living  occu 
pants  of  this  land." 


NOTES    TO   PART    FIRST. 


Note  (1)— Page  6. 

AT  WATER  in  his  "  Western  Antiquities"  a  work 
full  of  curious  information  on  the  subjects  of  which 
it  treats,  gives  the  following  description  of  the  for 
tifications  at  Circleville,  Ohio : 

There  are  two  forts,  one  being  an  exact  circle, 
the  other  an  exact  square.  The  former  is  surround 
ed  by  two  walls'  with  a  deep  ditch  between  them  — 
the  latter  is  encompassed  by  one  wall  without  any 
ditch — the  former  was  sixty-nine  rods  in  diameter, 
measuring  from  outside  to  outside  of  the  circular 
outer  wall — the  latter  is  exactly  fifty- five  rods  square, 
measuring  the  same  way.  The  walls  of  the  cir 
cular  fort  were  at  least  twenty  feet  in  height,  mea 
suring  from  the  bottom  of  the  ditch  before  the 
town  of  Circleville  was  built.  The  inner  wall  was 
of  clay  taken  up  probably  in  the  northern  pan  of 
the  fort  where  was  a  low  place,  and  is  still  con 
siderably  lower  than  any  other  part  of  the  work. 
The  outside  wall  was  taken  from  the  ditch  which  is 


140  NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST. 

oetween  these  walls,  and  is  alluvial,  consisting  of 
pebbles  worn  smooth  in  water  and  sand,  to  a  very . 
considerable  depth,  more  than  fifty  feet  at  least. 
The  outside  of  the  wall  is  about  five  or  six  feet  in 
height  now ;  on  the  inside  the  ditch  is  at  present, 
generally  not  more  than  eighteen  feet.  They  are 
disappearing  before  us  daily  and  will  soon  be  gone. 
The  walls  of  the  square  fort  are  at  this  time,  where 
left  standing,  ten  feet  in  height.  There  were  eight 
gateways  or  openings  leading  into  the  square  fort, 
and  only  one  in  the  circular  /ort.  Before  each  of 
these  openings  was  a  mound  of  earth  perhaps  four 
feet  high,  forty  feet  perhaps  in  diameter  at  the 
base,  and  twenty  or  upwards  at  the  summit.  These 
mounds  for  two  rods  or  more,  are  exactly  in  front  of 
the  gateways,  and  were  intended  for  the  defence  of 
these  openings. 

As  this  work  was  a  perfect  square,  so  the  gate 
ways  and  watch  towers  were  equi-distant  from 
each  other.  Theso  mounds  were  in  a  perfectly 
straight  line,  and  exactly  parallel  with  the  wall. 

D  (The  reader  is  referred  to  a  plate)  shows  the 
site  of  a  once  very  remarkable  ancient  mound 
of  earth,  with  a  semicircular  pavement  on  its  east 
ern  side^  nearly  fronting,  as  'h«5  plate  represents  the 
only  gateway  leading  into  the  fort.  This  mound  is 
entirely  removed ;  but  the  outline  of  the  semicir 
cular  pavement  may  still  be  seen  in  many  places, 
notwithstanding  the  dilapidations  of  time  and  those 
occasioned  by  the  hand  of  man.  This  mound,  the 
pavement,  the  walk  from  the  east  to  its  elevated 


NOTES  TO  PART   FIRST.  141 

summit,  the  contents  of  the  mound,  &c.,  will  be 
described  under  the  head  of  mounds. 

The  earth  in  these  walls  was  as  nearly  perpen 
dicular  as  it  could  be  made  to  He.  This  fort  had 
originally  but  one  gateway  leading  from  it  on  its 
eastern  side,  and  that  was  defended  by  a  meund  of 
earth  several  feet  in  height.  Near  the  centre  of 
this  work  was  a  mound  with  a  semicircular  pave- 
ment  on  its  eastern  side,  some  of  the  remains  of 
which  may  still  bo  seen  by  an  intelligent  observer. 
The  mound  has  been  entirely  removed  so  as  to 
make  the  street  level  where  it  once  stood. 

B  (Referring  to  a  plate)  is  a  square  fort  adjoining 
the  circular  one,  the  area  of  which  has  been  stated 
already.  The  wall  which  surrounds  this  work,  is 
generally  now  about  ten  feet  in  height,  where  it 
has  not  been  manufactured  into  brick.  There  are 
seven  gateways  leading  into  this  fort,  besides  the 
one  that  communicates  with  the  square  fortification  ; 
that  is,  one  at  each  angle  and  another  in  the  wall 
just  half  way  between  the  angular  ones.  Before 
each  of  these  gateways  was  a  mound  of  earth  of 
four  or  five  feet  in  height,  intended  for  the  defence 
of  these  openings.  The  extreme  care  of  the  au 
thors  of  these  works  to  protect  and  defend  every 
part  of  the  circle,  is  ne-where  visible  about  this 
square  fort.  The  former  is  defended  by  two  high 
walls  ;  the  latter  by  one.  The  former  haa  a  deep 
ditch  encircling  it ;  this  has  none.  The  former  could 
be  entered  at  one  place  only ;  this  at  eight  and 
those  about  twenty  feet  broad.  The  present  town 
of  Circleville  covers  nil  the  round  and  the  western 


142  NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST. 

half  of  the  square  fort.    These  fortifications,  where 
the  town  stands,  will  entirely  disappear  in  a  few 
years,  and  I  have  used  the  only  means  within  my 
power  to  perpetuate  their  memory  by  the  annexed 
drawing  and  this  brief  description.    Where  the 
wall  of  the  square  fort  has  been  manufactured  into 
brick,  the  workmen   found  some  ashes,   calcined 
stones,  sticks,  and  a  little   vegetable   mould;  all  of 
which  must  have  been  taken  up  from  the  surface  of 
the  surrounding  plain.     As  the  square  fort  is  a  per* 
feet  square,  so  the  gateways  or  openings  are  at  equal 
distances  from  each   other,  and  on  a  right  line  pa 
rallel  with  the  wall.     The  walls  of  this  work  vary  a 
few  degrees  from  north  and  south,  east  and  west, 
but  not  more  than  the  needle  varies,  and  not  a  few 
surveyors  have,  from  this  circumstance,  been  impress 
ed  with  the  belief  that  the  authors  of  those  works 
were  acquainted  with  astronomy.    What  surprised 
me  on  measuring  these  forts,  was  the  exact  manner 
in  which  they  had  laid  down  their  circle  and  square ; 
so  that  after  every  effort,  by  the  most  careful  survey, 
to  detect  some  error  in   their  measurement,  we 
found  that  it  was  impossible,  and  that  the  measure 
ment  was  much  more  correct  than  it  would  hare 
been,  in  all  probability,  had  the  present  inhabitants 
undertaken  to   construct   such  work.      Let   those 
consider  this   circumstance,   who  affect  to  believe 
that  these  antiquities  were  raised  by   the  ancestors 
of  the   present   race   of  Indians.     Having  learned 
something  of  astronomy,  what  nation  living  as  our 
Indians  do,  in  the  open  air,  with  the  heavenly  bo 
dies  in  full  view,  could  have  forgotten  such  know- 


NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST.         143 

ledge.  Some  hasty  travellers  who  have  spent  an 
hour  or  two  bore,  have  concluded  that  the  "forts" 
at  Circleville  were  not  raised  for  military,  but  for 
religious  purposes,  because  there  were  two  extra* 
ordinary  tumuli  there.  A  gentleman  in  one  of  our 
Atlantic  cities,  who  has^never  crossed  the  AHegha- 
nies,  has  written  to  me  that  he  is  fully  convinced 
that  they  were  raised  for  religious  purposes.  Men 
thus  situated,  and  with  no  correct  means  of  judg 
ing,  will  hardly  be  convinced  by  any  thing  I  can 
say.  Nor  do  I  address  myself  to  them  directly 
or  indirectly  ;  for  it  has  long  been  my  maxim,  that 
it  is  worse  than  vain  to  spend  one's  time  in  en 
deavoring  to  reason  men  out  of  opinions  for  which 
they  never  had  any  reasons. 

The  round  fort  was  picketed  in,  if  we  are  to 
judge  from  the  appearance  of  the  ground  on  and 
and  about  the  walls,  Half-way  up  the  outside  of 
the  inner  wall,  is  a  place  distinctly  to  be  seen,  where 
a  row  of  pickets  once  stood,  and  where  it  was 
placed  when  this  work  of  defence  was  originally 
erected.  Finally,  this  work  about  its  walls  and 
ditch,  eight  years  since,  presented  as  much  of  a  de 
fensive  aspect  as  forts  which  were  occupied  in  our 
wars  with  the  French  in  1755,  such  as  Oswego 
Fort,  Stanwin,  and  others.  These  works  have  been 
examined  by  the  first  military  men  in  the  United 
States,  and  they  have  uniformly  declared  their 
opinion  to  be,  that  they  were  military  works  of  de 
fence/'—  Pp.  45  to  48. 

In  Drake's  "Book  of  the  Indians/'  (fifth  edition) 
the  reader  will  find  other  military  remains  described : 


141  NOTES  TO  PART 

11  Further  up  the  little  Miami  at  Deerfield,  are 
other  interesting  remains;  but  those  "which  have 
attracted  more  attention  than  any  others  in  the 
Miami  country,  are  situated  six  miles  from  Leba 
non,  above  the  mouth  of  Todd's  Fork,  an  eastern 
branch  of  the  Miami.    On  the  summit  of  a  ridge 
at  least  two  hundred  feet  above  the  valley  of  the 
river,  there  are  two  irregular  trapezoidal  figures, 
connected  at  a  point  where  the  ridge  is  very  much 
narrowed  by  a  ravine.    The  wall,  which  is  entirely 
of  earth,  is  generally  eight  or  ten  feet  high  ;  but  in 
one  place,  where  it  is  conducted  over  level  ground 
for  a  short  distance,  it  rises  to  eighteen.    Its  situa 
tion  is  accurately  adjusted  to  the  brow  of  the  hill; 
and  as  there  is  in  addition  to  the  Miami  on  the 
west,  deep  ravines  on  the  north,  the  south-east  and 
south,  it  is  a  position  of  great  strength.    The  angles 
in  this  wall,  both  retreating  and  salient,  are  numer 
ous  and  generally  acute.    The  openings,  or  gate* 
ways,  are  not  less  than  eighty.     They  are  rarely  at 
equal  distances,  and  are  sometimes  •within  two  or 
three  rods  of  one  another.  They  are  not  opposite  to, 
or  connected  with,  any  existing  artificial  objects,  or 
topographical  peculiarities,  and  present,  therefore, 
a  paradox  of  some  difficulty." — Book  I.  p.  42. 


Note  (2)— Page  9, 

That  a  numerous  population  once  dwelt  in  the 
midst  of  our  western  mounds,  we  are  satisfied  from 


NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST.         145 

every  evidence  that  we  are  entitled  to  require. 
Their  public  works,  fortifications,  walls,  and  towers, 
testify  to  the  labors  of  a  populous  nation :  but  if  we 
look  into  their  graves,  we  receive  a  more  emphatic 
answer  than  all  their  living  labors  could  furnish. 
Every  hillock  in  the  mighty  west  is  bursting  with 
the  relics  of  this  extinguished  race ;  every  plain  is 
crowded  with  the  pale  assemblies  of  their  skeletons, 
silently  awaiting  the  only  voice  that  can  summon 
them  to  speak  of  the  past. 

The  particular  number  mentioned  in  the  text  is 
derived  from  Mr,  Bracken  ridge,  who  conjectured 
that  there  were  once  five  thousand  villages  of  this 
people  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Many  of 
the  mounds  contain  an  immense  number  of  skele 
tons.  Those  of  Big  Grave  Creek  are  believed  to 
be  completely  filled  with  human  bones.  The  large 
ones,  all  along  the  principal  rivers  in  this  state, 
(Ohio,)  are  also  filled  with  skeletons.  Millions  of 
human  beings  have  been  buried  in  these  tumuli.— 
From  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  the  West,  to  the 
Alleghanies  in  the  East,  the  country  must  have 
been  more  or  less  settled  by  them.* 

"  Almost  every  traveller  of  late  years  has  said 
something  of  the  mounds  or  fortifications  scattered 
over  the  south  and  west,  from  Florida  to  the  Lakes, 
and  from  the  Hudson  to  Mexico  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  By  some  they  are  reckoned  at  several 
thousand.  Mr.  Brackenridge  supposes  there  may 
be  three  thousand  ;  but  it  would  not  outrage  probm* 

'  "  v       ^  "-"v    ^Jl.*!-  :'•'*!':  •-' 

•  Vi<fe  At  water. 

13 


146        NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST. 

bility,  I  presume,  to  set  them  down  at  twice  that 
number.  Indeed  no  one  can  form  any  just  es 
timate  in  respect  to  the  number  of  mounds  and  for* 
tifications  which  have  been  built,  any  more  than  of 
the  period  of  time  which  has  passed  since  they  were 
originally  erected,  for  several  obvious  reasons  ;  one 
or  two  of  which  nay  be  mentioned  : — the  plough, 
excavations,  and  levellings  for  towns,  roads,  and 
various  other  works,  have  entirely  destroyed  hun 
dreds  of  them,  which  had  never  been  described,  and 
whose  sites  cannot  be  ascertained.  Another  great 
destruction  of  them  has  been  effected  by  the  chang 
ing  of  the  course  of  rivers.'1 — Drake,  Book  I.  p.  41. 


Note  (3)— Page  15. 

11  Like  many  people,  those  aboriginals,  in  their 
various  methods  of  inhumation,  deposited  some 
thing  of  real  or  supposed  value  with  the  deceased. 
Perhaps  they  always  did.  The  contrary  cannot  be 
asserted,  as  many  of  the  articles  might  have  been 
perishable.  This  practice  assures  us  of  their  belief 
in  a  future  existence."—  Conjectures  respecting  the 
Ancient  Inhabitants  of  North  America :  by  MOSES 
FISK,  Esq.,  of  Hilham,  Tennessee. — Vol.  I.  Archaeo- 
logia  American*. 

Mr.  Harris,  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts*  His 
torical  Society,  gives  the  following  account  of  the 
ancient  graves  which  are  scattered  over  the  whole 
face  of  the  western  country  : 


NOTES   TO    PART   FIRST.  147 

"The  places  called  graves  are  small  mounds  of 
earth,  from  some  of  which  human  bones  have  been 
taken.  In  one  were  found  the  bones,  in  their  natu 
ral  position,  of  a  man  buried  nearly  east,  and  west, 
with  a  quantity  of  isinglass  (mica  membranea)  on 
his  breast.  In  the  others,  the  bones  laid  promiscu 
ously,  some  of  them  appeared  partly  burnt  and  cal 
cined  by  fire,  also  stones,  evidently  burnt,  charcoal, 
arrow-heads,  and  fragments  of  a  kind  of  earthen 
ware,  An  opening  being  made  at  the  summit  of 
the  great  conic  mound,  there  were  found  the  boneg 
of  an  adult,  in  a  horizontal  position,  covered  with  a 
flat  stone.  Beneath  this  skeleton  were  thin  stones, 
placed  vertically,  at  imall  and  different  distances, 
but  no  bones  were  discovered.  That  this  venerable 
monument  might  not  be  defaced,  the  opening  was 
closed  without  further  search.  It  is  worthy  of  re 
mark,  that  the  walls  and  mounds  were  npt  thrown 
up  from  ditches,  but-raised  by  bringing  the  earth 
from  some  distance,  or  taking  it  up  uniformly  from 
the  surface  of  the  plain.  The  parapets  were  proba 
bly  made  of  equal  height  and  breadth,  but  the  waste 
of  time  has  rendered  them  lower  and  broader  in 
Bomo  parts  than  others.  It  is  in  vain  to  conjecture 
what  tools  or  machinery  were  employed  in  the  con 
struction  of  these  works ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  any  of  the  implements  were  of  iron. 
Plates  of  copper  have  been  found  in  some  of  the 
mounds,  but  they  appear  to  be  parts  of  armor. 
Nothing  that  would  answer  the  purpose  of  a  shovel 
has  ever  been  discovered." 

Mr.  Harris  quotes  Dr.  Cutter  upon  the  probable 


148  NOTES  TO  PAHT   FIRST. 

antiquity  of  these  mounds*  The  Doctor  concei res 
that  the  only  clue  remaining  is  the  growth  upon 
them.  He  says,  "  one  tree,  decayed  at  the  centre, 
contained  at  least  463  circles.  Its  age  was  undoubt 
edly  more  than  463  years.  Other  trees,  in  a  growing 
state,  were,  from  their  appearance,  much  older. 
There  were  likewise  the  strongest  marks  of  a  pre 
vious  growth,  as  large  as  the  present.  Admitting 
the  age  of  the  present  growth  to  be  450  years,  and 
that  it  had  been  preceded  by  one  of  equal  size  and 
age,  which  as  probably  as  otherwise  was  not  the 
first,  the  works  have  been  deserted  more  than  900 
years.  '* 

Mr.  Harris  remarks  that  "  about  90  miles  from 
Marietta,  on  a  large  plain,  bounded  by  one  of  the 
western  branches  of  the  Mu  skin  gum,  are  a  train  of 
ancient  works,  nearly  two  miles  in  extent,  the  ram 
parts  of  which  are  yet  in  some  places  upwards  of 
18  feet  perpendicular  height.  At  Licking  are  very 
extensive  works,  some  of  them  different  in  construe* 
tion  from  those  at  Marietta ;  particulary  several  cir 
cular  forts,  with  but  one  entrance.  They  are  formed 
of  a  parapet  from  7  to  12  feet  in  height,  without  any 
ditch  ;  i  the  interior  being  of  the  same  level  with  the 
plain  on  which  they  are  raised.  Forts  of  this  kind, 
which  are  also  found  in  other  places,  are  from  3 
chains  to  15  or  more  in  diameter.  There  are  .also 
large  walls  and  mounds  on  the  Great  Miami  and 
the  Scioto." 

The  original  height,  our  author  thinks,  was  di 
minished  by  the  gradual  wasting  away  of  the  earth, 
and  the  filling  up  of  the  interior,  and  the  accretion 


NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST.         149 

of  the  soil  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  plain,  by 
the  annual  deposit  of  leaves  and  the  decay  of  tim 
ber.  The  utensils  he  considers  to  have  belonged 
to  a  people  far  advanced  in  the  arts. 

"  The  elevated  squares  might  be  the  foundations 
of  larger  towns  and  arsenals.  The  excavations  or 
caves  were  undoubtedly  wells,  now  filled  up,  water 
being  an  essential  article/in  a  besieged  place.  Some 
of  these  are  above  40  feet  in  diameter,  and  about  5 
feet  in  depth" — have  some  resemblance  to  sacred 
enclosures  found  in  Mexico. 

"  The  smaller  mounds,  on  the  great  plains,  are 
filled  with  bones,  laid  in  various  directions,  in  an 
equal  state  of  decay,  and  appear  to  be  piled  over 
heaps  of  slain,  after  some  great  battle.  Whereas 
the  larger  mounds,  near  the  fenced  cities,  are  com- 
posed  of  strata,  if  I  may  so  say,  of  bones  in  more- 
regular  order,  of  full-grown  people  and  of  infants, 
and  in  different  stages  of  decay,  and  seem  formed 
of  the  bodies  of  such  as  have  died  of  sickness,' or 
were  killed  in  occasional  skirmishes,  at  different 
times,  with  intervals,  perhaps,  of  some  years.  In 
some  have  been  found  plates  of  copper  rivetted  to 
gether,  copper  beads,  various  implements  of  stone, 
and  a  very  curious  kind  of  porcelain."—  The  Jour- 
nal  of  a  Tour  into  the  Territory  north-west  of  the  Al- 
leghany  Mountains,  made  in  1805 :  by  TIIADDEUS 
MASON  HARRIS,  Member  of  Mass.  His.  Soc.  Bo** 
ton,  1805. 


150  MOTES  TO  PART  FIRST. 

Note  (4)— Page  16. 

* 

The  Rev.  Robert  G.  Wilson,  a  receiving  officer 
of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  furnished 
Mr.  Atwater  with  minute  information  concerning 
a  mound,  which  once  itood  near  the  centre  of  the 
town  of  Chilicothe,  Ohio. 

Its  perpendicular  height,  at  the  time  of  its  demo* 
lition,  was  about  fifteen  feet,  and  the  diameter  of 
its  base  about  sixty.     It  was  composed  of  sand,  and 
contained    human  bones,   belonging   to  skeletons 
which  were  buried  in  different  parts  of  it.     It  was 
not  until  this  pile  of  earth  was  removed,  and  the 
original  surface  exposed  to  view,  that  a  probable 
conjecture  of  its  original  design  could  be  formed. 
About  twenty  feet  square  of  the  surface  had  been 
levelled'  and  covered  with  bark.    On  the  centre  of 
this  lay  a  human  skeleton,  over  which  had   been 
spread  a  mat,  manufactured  either  from  weeds  or 
bark.     On  the  breast  lay  what  had  been  a  piece  of 
copper,  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  which  had  now  be 
come  verdigris.    On  the  breast  also  lay  a  stone  or 
nament,  with  two  perforations,  one  near  each  end, 
through  which  passed  a  string,  by  means  of  which 
it  was' suspended  round  the  wearer's  neck.       On 
this  string,  which  was  made  of  sinews,  and  very 
much  injured  by  time,  was  placed  a  great  many 
beads,  made  of  ivory  or  bone.    "  With   these  facts 
before  us,"  concluded  Dr.  Wilson,  "  we  are  left  to 
conjecture  at  what  time  this  individual  lived  ;  what 
were  his  heroic  achievements  in  the  field  of  "battle  ; 
his  wisdom  and  eloquence  in  the  councils  of  his 


NOTES   TO   PART   FIRST.  151 

nation.  But  his  contemporaries  have  testified,  in  a 
manner  not  to  be  mistaken,  that  among  them  he  was 
held  in  grateful  remembrance." 


Note  (5)— Page  16, 

"  On  the  beach  near  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum, 
was  discovered  a  curious  ornament.  It  is  made  of 
white  marble,  in  form  a  circle  about  three  inches  in 
diameter.  The  outer  edge  is  about  one  inch  in 
thickness,  with  a  narrow  rim.  The  sides  are  deeply 
concave,  and  in  the  centre  is  a  hole  about  half  an 
inch  in  diameter.  It  is  beautifully  finished,  and  so 
smooth  that  Dr.  Hildreth  is  of  the  opinion  that  it 
was  once  highly  polished.  It  is  now  in  the  posses 
sion  of  David  Putnam,  Esq.,  of  Marietta,  Ohio. 
Other  articles,  similar  to  this,  have  been  found  in 
several  mounds  in  many  places.  The  use  to  which 
the  one  described  was  put,  cannot  certainly  be 
known.  Was  it  a  rude  wind  instrument  of  music  1 
or  was  it  a  badge  of  office  and  distinction  I1'—  At* 
water.— Pp.  131,  132. 

With  regard  to  the  pleasure  gardens,  which  are 
alluded  to  more  than  once  in  the  text,  I  may  as  well 
quote  here  a  passage  from  the  26th  volume  of  the 
N.  A.  Review;  at  the  same  time  taking  the  liberty 
to  differ  entirely  from  the  remarks  of  the  writer  aa 
to  the  barbarous  character  of  other  ancient  memori 
als  found  throughout  the  West :  "  In  some  cursory 
remarks  upon  the  large  mounds  in  the  vicinity  of  St. 


152  NOTES    TO  PART   FIRST. 

Louis,  Mr.  School  craft  justly  observes,  that '  enough 
has  certainly  been  written  on  the  subject  of  bur 
mounds  to  prove  how  little  we  know  either  of  their 
origin  or  of  their  interior  structure/  These  remains 
of  ancient  art  have  attracted  the  attention  of  tra 
vellers  since  the  first  settlement  of  the  country  ;  and 
standing  as  they  do,  the  sole  monuments  of  human 
industry,  amid  interminable  forests,  it  is  not  surpris 
ing  that  curiosity  should  be  busy  in  investigating 
the  age  and  objects  of  their  founders.  But  little  has 
been  effected,  however,  to  satisfy  the  rational  in 
quirer;  and  before  much  progress  can  be  made,  all 
the  facts  connected  with  the  topographical  situation ' 
and  construction  of  these  works,  and  with  the  re 
mains  of  earthen  and  metallic  instruments  found  in 
and  about  them,  should  be  collected  and  preserved. 
The  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy,  the  Principal  of  the  Mis 
sionary  establishment  upon  the  St.  Joseph  of  Lake 
Michigan,  a  man  of  sound  judgment  and  rigid  in 
tegrity,  has  observed  a  class  of  works  in  that  coun 
try,  differing  essentially  from  any  which  have  been 
elsewhere  found,  As  his  account  of  them  is  inte 
resting,  we  shall  transcribe  the  letter  he  has  address 
ed  to  us. 

•Aware  of  the  interest  you  feel  in  every  thing  re 
lating  to  the  character  and  condition  of  the  aborigi 
nes  of  our  country,  I  do  myself  the  pleasure  to  en* 
close  to  you  a  plot  of  a  tract  of  land  which  has  been 
cultivated  in  an  unusual  manner  for  this  country, 
and  which  was  abandoned  by .  its  cultivators  ages 
ago.  These  marks  of  antiquity  are  peculiarly  inte 
resting  because  they  exhibit  the  work  of  civilized 


NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST.         153 

and  not  of  savage  man.  All,  or  nearly  all  the  other 
works  of  antiquity,  which  have  been  found  in  these 
western  regions,  convince  the  observer  that  they 
were  found  by  men  who  had  made  little  or  no  ad 
vance  in  the  arts.  If  we  examine  a  number  of 
mounds  in  the  same  neighborhood,  we  find  them 
situated  without  any  regard  to  order  in  the  arrange 
ment,  precisely  as  modern  savages  place  the  huts  in 
their  villages  and  plant  the  corn  in  their  field.  If  we  . 
observe  a  fortification  made  of  earth,  we  shall  find 
it  exhibits  no  greater  order  in  its  formation,  than 
necessity  in  a  similar  case  would  suggest  to  an  un 
cultivated  Indian  of  modern  days.  If  it  be  a 
wall  of  stone,  the  stones  are  unbroken  as  they  were 
taken  from  the  quarry,  or  rather  from  the  neighboring 
brook  or  river.  In  the  works,  to  which  I  now  allude, 
we  find  what  we  suppose  to  be  garden  spots,  thrown 
into  ridges  and  walks  with  so  much  judgment,  good 
order,  and  taste  in  the  arrangement,  as  to  forbid  a 
thought  that  they  were  formed  by  uncivilized  man. 
The  plans  sent  you  by  no  means  represent  the  most 
striking  works.  I  procured  them  because  the  places 
were  near  my  residence.  I  can  find  several  acres 
together,  laid  out  into  walks  and  beds  in  a  style 
which  would  not  suffer  by  comparison  with  any 
gardens  in  the  United  States.  These  places  were 
not  cultivated  by  the  early  French  emigrants  to  the 
country,  because— 1.  They  evince  a  population  at 
least  twenty  limes  greater  than  the  French  ever  had 
in  any  of  the  regions  of  the  lakes  in  those  early  times. 
In  the  tract  of  country  in  which  I  have  observed 
them,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  extent,  north 


154  NOTES  TO   PART    FIRST. 

and  south,  from  Grand  River  to  the  Elksheart,  I 
think  the  number  and  extent  of  these  ancient  im 
provements  indicate  a  population  nearly  or  quite 
equal  to  that  of  Indiana.  9.  The  early  French  es 
tablishments  were  generally  made  on  navigable 
streams.  But  these  improvements  are  spread  over 
the  whole  country.  Scarcely  a  fertile  prairie  is 
found  on  the  margin  of  which  we  do  not  observe 
these  evidences  of  civilization.  3.  These  works  were 
abandoned  by  their  proprietors  long  before  the 
country  became  known  to  the  Europeans.  The 
timber  standing,  falling  and  decaying,  on  these  cul 
tivated  spots,  has  precisely  the  same  appearance  in 
respect  to  age  as  that  immediately  adjoining.  On  a 
cluster  of  those  beds,  a  plan  of  which  I  send  you,  I 
cut  down  a  white  oak  tree  which  measured  throe 
feet  two  inches  in  diamater,  two  and  a  half  feet  above 
the  ground,  and  which  was  three  hundred  and 
t wen ty-five  years  old,  if  the  real  age  of  a  tree  is  in 
dicated  by  the  number  of  its  concentric  circles. 
From  the  indications  yet  remaining,  it  is  certain  that 
most  of  these  works  have  disappeared.  We  find 
none  in  the  beech,  ash  or  walnut  land,  because  here 
the  earth  is  loose  and  mellow  to  the  surface,  and  not 
bound  with  grass.  We  find  them  rarely  in  the  prai 
ries  far  from  the  timber,  because  the  places  of  which 
I  speak  have  been,  as  I  suppose,  not  fields  but  gar 
dens  convenient  to  dwelling-houses,  which  were 
probably  placed  in  the  vicinity  of  the  timber  for  the 
same  reasons  which  induce  our  present  settlers  to 
select  similar  sites  for  their  residence.  In  what  we 
call  barrens,  adjoining  prairies,  the  surface  of  tho 


NOTES    TO    PART    FIRST.  155 

earth  is  bound  by  the  grass,  in  the  same  manner  as 
that  of  the  prairie  itself,  and  by  that  means  the 
ridges  are  preserved.  And  notwithstanding  the 
causes  which  are  in  daily  operation  to  destroy  these 
works,  I  am  confident  I  have  seen  acres  of  them 
which  will  last  for  centuries,  if  assailed  by  no  other 
hand  than  that  of  nature.  The  Indians  of  Grand 
River  informed  me  that  those  appearances  are  found 
on  all  the  waters  of  that  river,  and  that  they  extend 
south  upon  all  the  waters  of  the  Kekalimazoo.  A 
few  are  found  near  Michillimackinac.  To  use  their 
expression,  "the  country  is  full  of  them."  The  Indian 
tradition  on  this  subject,  is,  that  these  places  were 
cultivated  by  a  race  of  men,  whom  they  denominate 
Prairie  Indians,  and  that  they  were  driven  from  the 
country  by  the  united  tribes  of  Chippewas,  Ottawas, 
and  Pottawatomies,  The  few  who  survived  the 
calamities  of  war,  went  westward,  and  some  may 
even  yet  exist  beyond  the  Mississippi.  But  not  the 
smallest  reliance  can  be  placed  on  any  Indian  tra- 
diliou  relating  to  a  remote  period.' " 


Note  (6)— Page  29. 

A  single  passage  illustrative  of  the  character  of  * 
this  departed  people,  may  be  worth  extracting  from 
an  article  in  Silliman's  Journal  for  1834,  entitled, 
"  Ten  Days  in  Ohio,  from  the  Diary  of  a  Natural- 
iat"  • 

Speaking  of  Circleville  and  its  ancient  works,  he 


156  ;     .  NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST. 

eays,  "  a  street  has  been  opened  across  the  little 
mound  which  covered  the  hill,  and  in  removing  the 
earth  many  skeletons  were  found  in  good  preserva 
tion:  A  cranium  of  one  of  these  was  in  my  pos 
session,  and  is  a  noble  specimen  of  the  race  which 
once  occupied  these  ancient  walls.  It  has  a  high 
forehead  and  large  bold  features,  with  all  the  phre 
nological  marks  of  daring  and  bravery ." 

Considerable  discussion  has  arisen  as  to  the  size 
of  the  builders  of  the  mounds ;  some  contending 
that  they  were  a  nation  of  giants,  while  others  as 
strenuously  argue  that  they  were  a  race  of  dwarfs. 
In  this  dilemma  I  have  chosen  to  adopt  a  middle 
course  and  to  represent  them  as  mere  men.  To  en 
lighten  the  reader,  however,  as  to  the  state  of  the 
question,  the  following  extracts  are  furnished,  the 
first  from  Timothy  Flint's  able  work,  "  Recollec 
tions  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi." 

"  The  more  the  subject  of  the  past  races  of  men 
and  animals  in  this  region  is  investigated,  the  more 
perplexed  it  seems  to  become.  The  huge  bones  of 
the  animals  indicate  them  to  be  vastly  larger  than 
any  that  now  exist  on  the  earth.  All  that  I  have 
seen  and  heard  of  the  remains  of  the  men  would 
seem  to  show  that  they  were  smaller  than  the  men 
of  our  times.  All  the  bodies  that  have  been  found 
in  that  state  of  high  preservation,  in  which  they 
were  discovered  in  nitrous  caves,  were  considera 
bly  smaller  than  the  present  ordinary  stature  of 
men.  The  two  bodies  that  were  found  in  the  vast 
limestone  cavern  in  Tennessee,  one  of  which  I 
saw  at  Lexington,  were  neither  of  them  more  than 


NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST.        157 

four  feet  in  height.    It  seemed  to  roe  that  this  must 
have  been  nearly  the  height  of  the  living  person. 
The  teeth  and  nails  did  not  seem  to  indicate  the 
shrinking  of  the  flesh  from  them  in  the  desicating 
process  hy  which  they  were  preserved.    "The  teeth 
were  separated  by  considerable  intervals,  and  were 
small,  long,  white  and  short,  reviving  the  horribla 
images  of  nursery  tales  of  ogres'  teeth.    The  hair 
seemed  to  have  been  sandy  or  inclining  to  yellow. 
It  is  well  known  that   nothing  is  so  uniform  in  the 
present  Indian  as  his  long  black   hair.     From   tha 
pains  taken  to  preserve  the  bodies,  and  the  great 
labor  of  making  the  funeral  rol>es  in  which  they 
were  folded,  they  must  have  been  of  the   "  blood 
royal,!'  or  personages  of  great  consideration  in  their 
day.     Th'e  person  that  I  saw  had  evidently  died  by 
a  blow  on  the   skull.     The   blood  had  coagulated 
there  into  a  mass  of  texture  and  color  sufficiently 
marked  to  show  that  it  had  been  blood.     The  en 
velope  of  the  body   was  double.     Two  splendid 
blankets  completely  woven  with  the  most  beautiful 
feathers  of  the   wild   turkey  arranged   in  regular 
Stripes  and  compartments  encircled  it.     The  cloth 
on  which  these  feathers  were  woven,  was  a  kind  of 
linen  of  neat  texture,   of  the  same   kind  with  that 
which  is  now  woven  from  the  fibres  of  the  nettle. 
The  body  was  evidently  that  of  a  female  of  middle  ' 
age,  and  I  should  suppose  that  her  majesty  weighed 
when  I  saw  her  six  or  eight  pounds. — At  the  time 
that  the  Lilliputian  graves  were  found  on  the  Mau- 
mee  in  the  county  of  St.  Louis,  many  people  went 
from  that  town  to  satisfy  their  curiosity  by  inspect- 
U 


158  NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST. 

ing  them.  I 'made  arrangements  to  go,  but  wad 
called  away  by  indispensable  duties.  I  relate  them 
from  memory  only,  and  from  the  narrative  oral  and 
printed  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Peck,  who  examined  them 
on  the  spot.  It  appears  from  him  that  the  graves 
were  numerous,  that  the  coffins  were  of  stone,  that 
the  bones  in  some  instances  were  nearly  entire ; 
that  the  length  of  the  bodies  was  determined  by 
that  of  the  coffins  which  they  filled,  and  that  the 
bodies  in  general  could  not  have  been  more  than 
from  three  feet  and  a  half  to  four  feet  in  length. 
Thus  it  Mhould  scorn  that  the  generations  of  the  past 
in  this  region  were  mammoths  and  pigmies." 

In  "  Travels  in  America,  performed  in  1806,  forthe 
purpose  of  exploring  the  Rivers  Allegheny,  Monon- 
gahelu,  Ohio,  and  Mississippi,  and  ascertaining  the 
produce  and  condition  of  their  hnriks  and  vicinity, 
by  Thomas  Ashu,"— th«  reader  will  find  the  opposite 
opinion,  with  rnuny  other  curious  matters,  n-i  forth. 
The  author,  after  describing  with  great  particularity 
his  labors  near  Fort  Ilarrncr  in  Ohio,  says,  "  I  ctime 
to  ft  substance!  which  on  tho  most  critical  examination 
I  judged  to  be  a  mat  or  mats  in  u  state  of  entire  do* 
composition  and  decay.  1  took  up  the  impalpable 
powder  in  my  hands  and  fanned  off  the  remaining 
dust  with  my  hat.  There  existed  under  my  feet  a 
beautiful  tasselated  pavement  of  small  colored  stones, 
the  color  and  stones  arranged  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
express  harmony  and  shades,  and  to  portray  the  full 
length  figure  of  a  warrior  under  whose  feet  a 
snake  was  exhibited  in  ample  folds.  No  part  of 
the  pavement  was  exactly  of  tho  tasselate  character 


NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST.         159 

except  the  space  between  the  outline  of  the  figures 
and  the  sides  and  ends  of  the  entire  space.  Little 
more  than  the  actual  pavement  could  be  preserved  ; 
it  is  composed  of  flat  stones  one  inch  deep,  two 
inches  square,  and  the  prevailing  colors  are  white, 
green,  dark  blue  and  pale  spotted  red  ;  all  of  which 
are  peculiar  to  the  lakes,  and  are  not  to  be  had 
nearer.  They  are  evidently  known  and  filled  with 
a  precision  which  proves  them  to  have  been  but  from 
ono  common  example.  The  whole  was  affixed 
with  a  thin  layer  of  sand  which  covered  a  large 
piece  of  beech  bark  in  great  decay,  whose  removal 
exposed  what  I  was  fully  prepared  to  discover 
from  all  the  previous  indications,  the  remains  of  a 
human  skeleton  of  uncommon  magnitude  extended 
in  a  bark  shell,  which  also  contained,  1st  An  earth 
en  urn  or  rather  pot  of  earthen  ware,  in  which  were 
several  small  broken  bones  and  some  white  sedi 
ment.  The  urn  appears  to  be  made  of  sand  and 
flint  vitrified,  rings  like  a  rummer  glass,  holds  about 
two  gallons,  has  a  top  or  cover  of  the  same  material, 
resists  fire  as  completely  as  iron  or  brass ;  2d.  A 
stone  hatchet  with  a  groove  round  the  pole,  by  which 
it  was  fastened  with  a  withe  to  the  handle ;  3d. 
Twenty-four  arrow  points  made  of  flint  and  bone, 
and  lying  in  a  position  which  betrayed  their  having 
belonged  to  a  quiver ;  4th.  A  quantity  of  beads, 
round,  oval,  and  square;  colored  green,  black, 
white,  blue  and  yellow  ;  5th.  A  conch  shell  decom 
posed  into  a  substance  like  chalk.  This  shell  is 
fourteen  inches  long  and  twenty-three  in  circum 
ference ;  6th.  Under  a  heap  of  dust  and  turnout 


160  NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST. 

shreds  of  feathered  cloth  and  hair,  a  parcel  of  bra* 
tings  cut  by  an  art  unknown  to  me,  out  of  a  solid 
piece  of  that  metal,  and  in  such  8  manner  that  the 
rings  are  suspended  from  each  other  without  the 
aid  of  solder  or  any  visible  agency  whatever. 

Of  the  skeleton  I  have  preserved  a  small  part  of 
the  vertebral  column,  a  portion  of  the  skull,  a  part 
of  the  under  jaw,  &c. 

Judging  from  comparison  and  analogy,  the  being 
to  whom  these  remains  belonged,  could  not  have 
been  less  than  seven  feet  high.  That  he  was  a 
king,  sachem,  or  chief  of  a  very  remote  period, 
there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt." 


Note  (7)— Page  Sfc 

A  letter  from  Dr.  S.  P.  Hildreth,  dated  Jury  Id, 
1819,  gives  some  account  of  the  opening  of  a  tumu 
lus  at  Marietta,  and  the  various  remains  of  antiquity 
which  it  contained. 

"  In  removing  the  earth  which  composed  an  an 
cient  mound  in.  one  of  the  streets  of  Marietta,  on 
the  margin  of  the  plain,  near  the  fortifications, 
several  curious  articles  were  discovered,  the  latter 
part  of  June  last.  They  appear  to  have  been  buried 
with  the  body  of  the  person  to  whose  memory  this 
mound  was  erected.  Lying  immediately  over,  or  on 
the  forehead  of  the  body,  were  found  three  large  cir 
cular  bosses,  or  ornaments  for  a  sword-belt  or  a  buck 
ler;  they  are  composed  of  copper,  overlaid  with  a  thick 


NOTES    TO    PART    FIRST.  161 

plate  of  silver.  The  fronts  of  them  are  slightly  con» 
vex,  with  a  depression  like  a  cup  in  the  centre,  and 
measure  two  inches  and  a  quarter  across  the  face  of 
each.  On  the  back  side,  opposite  the  depressed 
portion,  is  a  copper  rivet  or  nail,  around  which  are 
two  separate  plates  by  which  they  were  fastened  to 
the  leather.  Two  small  pieces  of  the  leather  were 
found  lying  between  the  platen  of  one  of  the  bosses; 
they  resemble  the  skin  of  an  old  mummy,  and  seem 
to  have  been  preserved  by  the  salts  of  the  copper. 
The  plates  of  copper  are  nearly  reduced  to  an 
oxyde  or  rust.  The  silver  looks  quite  black,  but  is 
not  much  corroded,  and  on  rubbing  it  becomes  quite 
brilliant.  Two  of  these  are  yet  entire  :  the  third 
one  is  so  much  wasted,  that  it  dropped  in  pieces  on 
removing  it  from  the  earth.  Around  the  rivet  of 
one  of  them  is  a  small  quantity  of  flax  or  hemp,  in 
a  tolerable  state  of  preservation.  Near  the  side  of 
the  body  was  found  a  plate  of  silver,  which  appears 
to  have  been  the  upper  part  of  a  sword  scabbard  ; 
it  is  six  inches  in  length  and  two  inches  in  breadth, 
and  weighs  one  ounce ;  it  has  no  ornaments  or 
figures,  but  has  three  longitudinal  ridges,  which 
probably  correspond  with  edges  or  ridges  of  the 
sword  :  it  seems  to  have  been  fastened  to  the  scab* 
bard  by  three  or  four  rivets,  the  holes  of  which  yet 
remain  in  the  silver.  Two  or  three  broken  pieces 
of  a  copper  tube  were  also  found,  filled  with  iron 
rust  These  pieces,  from  their  appearance,  com 
posed  the  lower  end  of  the  scabbard,  near  the  point 
of  the  sword.  No  sign  of  the  sword  itself  wa* 


168  NOTES   TO   PART    FIRST. 

• 

discovered,  except  the  appearance  of  rust  above 

mentioned."  * 

A  second,  communication  from-  the  same  gentle 
man,  to  the  President  of  the  American  Antiquarian 
Society,  will  furnish  evidence  as  to  the  armor  and 
weapons  mentioned  in  the  text : 

41  In  addition  to  the  articles  found  at  Marietta, 
I  have  procured,  from  a  mound  on  the  Little  Mus- 
klngum,  about  four  miles  from  Marietta,  some  pieces 
of  copper,  which  appear  to  have  been  the  front  pan 
of  a  helmet.  It  was  originally  about  eight  inches 
long  and  four  broad,  and  has  marks  of  having  been 
attached  to  leather  ;  it  is  much  decayed,  and  is  now 

i  thin  plate.  : I  have  been  told  by  an  eye 

witness,  that  a  few  years  ago,  near  Blacksburgh,  in 
Virginia,  eighty  miles  from  Marietta,  there  was 
found  about  half  of  a  steel  bow,  which,  when  entire., 
would  measure  five  or  six  feet ;  the  other  part  was 
corroded  or  broken.  The  father  of  the  man  who 
found  it  was  a  blacksmith,  and  worked  up  this  cu 
rious  relic,  I  suppose,  with  as  little  remorse  as  Ke 
would  an  old  gun  barrel.' * 


Note  (8)— Page  40. 

The  author  has  taken  the  liberty  of  transferring* 
an  Indian  tradition  to  the  credit  of  their  predeces- 
tore,  the  Mound-builders.  From  what  source  this 
tradition,  recited  below,  was  derived ;  whether  it 
was  the  creation  purely  of  a  wild  and  barbarous 


NOTES  TO  PART  FIRST.         163 

imagination,  or  whether  it  came  into  their  possession 
from  some  contact  with  the  Mound-building  race, 
the  links  of  which  are  now  entirely  lost,  are  ques 
tions  that  have  passed  beyond  answer  from  philoso 
phy  or  conjecture. 

"  Some  of  the  Upper  Crees,  a  tribe  who  inhabit 
the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Athabasca  river, 
have  a  curious  tradition  with  respect  to  animals 
which  they  state  formerly  frequented  the  mountains, 
They  allege  that  these  animals  were  of  frightful 
magnitude,  being  from  two  to  three  hundred  feet  in 
length,  and  high  in  proportion  j  that  they  formerly 
lived  in  the  plains  a  great  distance  to  the  eastward ; 
from  which  they  were  gradually  driven  by  the  In 
dians  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  ;  that  they  destroyed 
all  smaller  animals  ;  and  if  iheir  agility  was  equal 
to  their  size,  would  have  also  destroyed  all  the  na- , 
tives,  &c.  One  man  has  asserted  that  his  grand 
father  told  him  he  saw  one  of  those  animals  in  a 
mountain  pass,  where  he  was  hunting,  and  that  on 
hearing  its  roar,  which  he  compared  to  loud  thun 
der,  the  sight  almost  left  his  eyes,  and  his  heart  be 
came  as  small  as  an  infant's."— Advcnturet  on  the 
Columbia  River  c  by  Ross  Cox. 

Jefferson,  in  his  "  Notes  on  Virginia,"  has  also- 
attributed  a  similar  legend  to  the  Delawares  : 

"  During  the  Revolution,  a  delegation  of  warriors 
from  the  Delaware  tribe,  told  the  governor  of  Vir 
ginia  that  it  was  a  tradition  handed  down  from  their 
fathers,  that  in  ancient  times  a  herd  of  these  tre 
mendous  animals  came  to  Big-Bone  Licks,  and 
began  an  universal  destruction  of  the  bear,  deer, 


164  NOTES   TO   PART   FIRST. 

elk,  buffaloes,  and  other  animals,  which  had  been 
created  for  the  use  of  the  Indians ;  that  the  Great 
Man  above,  looking  down  and  seeing  this,  was  BO 
enraged  that  he  seized  his  lightning,  descended  on 
the  earth,  seated  himself  on  a  neighboring  mountain, 
on  a  rock,  of  which  his  seat  and  the  print  of  his 
feet  are  still  to  be  seen,  and  hurled  his  bolts  among 
them,  till  the  whole  were  slaughtered  except  the 
big  bull,  who,  presenting  his  forehead  to  the  shafts, 
shook  them  off  as  they  fell,  but  missing  one,  at 
length,  it  wounded  him  in  the  side ;  whereon, 
springing  round,  he  bounded  over  the  Ohio,  over 
the  Wabash,  the  Illinois,  and  finally  over  the  great 
lakes,  where  he  is  living  at  this  day." 


NOTES    TO   PART  SECOND. 


Note  (1)— Page  100, 

SHOULD  any  unlucky  doubt  disturb  the  reader's 
belief  in  the  incident  of  Bokulla  and  the  hawk,  he  is 
referred  to  the  8th  chapter  of  Ross  Cox's  "  Adven 
tures  on  the  Columbia  River."  The  following  should 
properly  have  been  introduced  as  a  note  to  page  81. 
The  most  curious  work  that  has  appeared  since  Bur 
ton's  "Anatomie  of  Melancholy"  is,  I  suspect,  "Ameri 
can  Antiquities  and  Discoveries  in  the  West,"  by  Jo- 
siah  Priest.  It  is  an  entire  eagle's  flight  beyond  any 
tract,  pamphlet  or  octwo,  that  has  ever  hovered 
over  the  mounds  and  memorials  of  the  Far  West. 
The  book  is  in  truth  a  perfect  fac  simile  of  the  West 
itself,  where  a  thigh-bone  nudges  a  piece  of  potte 
ry;  a  mummy  stands  sentinel  over  a  rusty  piece  of 
copper;  and  a  whole  range  of  robust  fortifications 
is  laid  deep  and  piled  high  to  defend — nothing ! 
If  there  is  any  single  topic  of  which  this  book  does 
not  treat,  we  are  ao  unfortunate  as  not  to  have  form 
ed  an  acquaintance  with  the  subject  or  science  to 


166       NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

which  it  belongs.  Nothing  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  Mr.  Priest'*  liberal  and  comprehensive  sympa 
thies  :  He  starts  by  establishing  the  location  of 
Mount  Ararat,  and  indulging  in  sundry  shrewd  and 
piercing  conjectures  as  to  the  signification  of  Shem, 
Ham  and  Japhet ;  the  tumultuous  times  of  Noah's 
grandson,  Peleg,  then  come  in  for  a  share  of  com 
ment,  and  the  ten  lost  tribes — what  book,  treating 
of  America,  could  be  perfect  without  the  genealogy 
of  these  vagrant  Jewish  gentlemen  ? — next  put  in 
an  appearance.  Then  follow  chapters  on  Welch 
discoveries,  huge  Mexican  mounds,  the  state  of 
antediluvian  scholarship,  on  draining,  cannibalism, 
and  the  Lord  knows  what  else  ! — all  rushing  to 
gether,  without  order  or  guidance,  like  a  drove  of 
unhaltered  mules.  To  do  Mr.  Priest  justice, 
however,  (and  every  man  who  labors  in  the  great 
field  of  tho  West  is  entitled  to  some  portion  of  ho« 
nor)  be  has  accumulated  in  this  book  a  large  amount 
of  very  curious  information.  He,  for  instance,  in« 
troduces  a  story  like  the  following  :-— 

11  During  the  last  year,  1832,  a  Mr.  Ferguson 
communicated  to  tho  editor  of  the  Christian  Advo 
cate  and  Journal,  a  discovery,  which  he  examined 
and  described  as  follows  :  '  On  a  mountain,  called 
the  Lookout  Mountain,  belonging  to  the  vast  Alle- 
ghanian  chain,  running  between  the  Tennessee  and 
Coos  rivers,  rising  about  one  thousand  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  surrounding  valley.  The  top  of  the 
mountain  is  mostly  level,  but  presents  to  the  eye  an 
almost  barren  waste.  On  this  range,  notwithstand 
ing  its  height,  a  river  has  its  source,  which,  after 


NOTES   TO   i»ART    SECOND.  167 

traversing  for  about  seventy  miles,  plunges  over  a! 
precipice.     The  rock,  from  which  the  water  falls,  is 
circular,  and  juts  over  considerably.     Immediately 
below  the  fall,  on  each  side  of  the  river,  are  bluffs, 
which  rise  two  hundred  feet.     Around  one  of  these 
bluffs  the  river  makes  a  bend,  which  gives  it  the  form 
of  a  peninsula.     On  the  top  of  this  are  the  remains 
of  what  is  esteemed  fortifications,  which  consist  of  a 
stone  wall  built  on  the  very  brow  of  this  tremendous 
ledge.     The  whole  length  of  the  wall,  following  the 
varying  courses  of  the  brink  of  this  precipice,  is 
thirty-seven  rods  and  eight  feet,  including  about  two 
acres  of  ground,1     The  only  descent  from  this  place 
is  between  two  rocks,  for  about  thirty  feet,  when 
a  bench  of  the  ledge  presents  itself,  from  two  to  five 
feet  in  width,  arid  ninety  feet  long,     This  bench  is 
the  only  road  or  path   up  from  tho  water's  edge  to 
the  summit.     But  just  at  the  foot  of  the  two  rocks, 
where  they  reach  this  pnth,  and  within  thirty  feet  of 
the  top  of  the  rock,  are  five  rooms,  which  have  been 
formed  by  dint  of  labor.     The  entrance   to   these 
rooms  is  very  small,  but  when  within,  they  are  found 
to  communicate  with  each  other,  by  doors  or  aper 
tures,     Mr.  Ferguson  thinks  them  to  have  been  con 
structed  during  some  dreadful  war,  and  those  who 
constructed  them  to  huve  acted  on  the  defensive; 
and  believes  that  twenty  men  could  have  withstood 
the  whole  army  of  Xerxes,  as  it  was  impossible  for 
more  than  one  to  pass  at  a  time;  and  might  by  the 
slightest  push  be  hurled  at  least  a  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  down  the  rocks.     The  reader/  concludes  Mr. 
Priest, '  can  indulge  his  own  conjectures,  whether 


168       NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

in  the  construction  of  this  inaccessible  fortress,  he 
does  not  perceive  the  remnant  of  a  tribe  or  nation, 
acquainted  with  the  arts  of  excavation  and  defence  ; 
making  a  last  struggle  against  the  invasion  of  an 
overwhelming  foe  ;  where  it  is  likely  they  were  re 
duced  hy  famine,  and  perished  amid  the  yells  of  their 
enemies."— Pp.  176,  177. 

While  on  the  subject  of  these  ancient  fortifica 
tions  again,  I  may  as  well  quote  an  additional  au 
thority  :  "  A  Journal  through  the  Western  Coun 
try  in  the  summer  of  1816,  by  David  Thomas  i  Au 
burn,  1819."  In  describing  the  celebrated  remains 
at  Circleville,  Mr.  Thomas  says,  (p.  94,)  •'  1  have  no 
ticed  the  circular  enclosure  which  has  shaped  the 
town.  There  is  also  a  square  enclosure  that  touches 
it  on  the  east.  But  though  these  are  stated  to  be 
equal  in  area,  the  difference  of  figure  is  riot  greater 
than  the  mode  of  construction.  The  circle  is  form 
ed  of  two  banks  which  are  separated  by  a  ditch  or 
fosse,  about  30  feet  wide  at  the  natural  surface  of 
the  ground,  but  CO  feel  from  the  top  of  one  bank  to 
the  other,  Much  of  the  fosse  doubtless  has  been 
filled  from  the  banks  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  but  even  at 
this  day,  a  great  excavation  is  visible.  The  square 
on  the  reverse  haw  no  ditch.  The  bank  is  about  30 
feet  wide  at  the  base,  12  feet  high,  and  sufficiently 
broad  on  the  summit  for  a  wagon  road.  It  is  a  stu 
pendous  work,  and  yet  the  whole  mass  appears  to 
have  been  carried  hither  from  a  distance.  This  is 
evident  in  respect  to  the  north  and  south  sides, 
which  are  formed  of  clay  resting  on  a  gravelly  sod  ; 
and  near  the  west  bank,  which  is  composed  of  the 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.        169 

latter  material,  I  saw  no  excavation  from  winch  it 
could  have  been  taken.  Near  the  north-west  cor 
ner  a  swale  or  draught  for  water  in  heavy  rains  ap 
pears  both  on  the  inside  and  outside  of  the  wall,  and 
proves  that  it  eould  not  have  been  gathered  from  the 
adjacent  surface  of  the  ground.  It  is  a  great  singu 
larity  that  these  materials  should  have  been  kept 
separate  and  distinct.  At  the  corners  each  kind 
terminates ;  and  the  inner  bank  of  the  circular  fort 
is  clay,  but  the  outer  is  gravel.  Doubtless  the  lat 
ter  was  thrown  from  the  ditch,  and  a  stratum  of  clay 
may  have  supplied  the  other;  but  it  is  questionable 
whether  the  excavation  yielded  earth  sufficient  for 
both  banks."  Our  author  remarks,  that  if,  as  is  pro 
bable,  thcso  fortifications  were  high  enough  to  guard 
the  entrance  from  missile  weapons,  a  great  depres* 
sion  must  have  taken  place.  He  states  that  the  area 
enclosed  was  variously  estimated  from  5  to  19  acres. 
The  east  and  west  sides  of  the  square,  being  17° 
to  the  right  of  the  meridian.  Hence,  some  suppose 
that  they  were  acquainted  with  the  polarity  of  the 
magnet;  that  by  it  the  square  was  drawn,  and  that 
the  time  can  be  calculated  by  its  variation.  The 
small  quantities  of  iron  found  in  the  mounds  evin 
ces  that  this  people  were  not  acquainted  with  its 
manufacture.  No  glass  or  substance  like  it  has  been 
found.  The  magnetic  period,  if  calculated  at  1000 
years,  which  is  twice  aa  great  as  is  probable,  would 
not  give  the  result  within  one  such  period.  This 
mound  when  discovered  was  overshadowed  with  a 
forest  Considerable  of  the  north  and  south  walls 
has  been  converted  into  brick.  In  a  note  to  the 
15 


170  NOTES  VO  tJLKT  BECOftB. 

passage,  of  which  the  substance  has  been  above 
given,  Mr.  Thomas  discusses  the  vexed  question  of 
the  original  peopling  of  this  country  at  great  length 
and  with  much  ability.  He  states  that  the  compara 
tive  size  of  various  remains  is  not,  as  Dr.  Drake 
«i»i*po5cs,  an  index  to  their  origin,  for  many  of 
these  fortifications  were  destroyed  in  their  progres* 
sive  state.  He  combats  the  opinion  of  Atwater,  that 
the  Mound-builders  first  settled,  subsequently  to  the 
Indians,  in  the  North ;  that  the  latter  settled  in  the 
Atlantic  coast,  and  that  the  Mound-builders,  on  their 
emigration  thither,  were  BO  pressed  by  the  Indian* 
that  they  followed  tho  water  courses  to  the  south, 
and  thence  migrated  to  Mexico  and  Peru.  Ho 
thinks  the  assertion  of  Dr.  Drake,  that  the  mounds 
decrease  in  size,  beauty  and  regularity,  in  a  ratio 
corresponding  directly  to  the  distance  from  Mexico, 
and  that  the  fact  that  the  peccary,  (the  Mexican 
hog),  an  animal  only  known  there,  has  been  found 
in  a  cave  in  Kentucky,  is  evidence  that  a  Mexican 
colony  inhabited  Ohio  and  the  West.  "  The  fortifi 
cations  at  Circleville  and  at  other  places,  evince  a 
population  not  only  too  numerous  to  be  supplied 
with  food  from  the  forest,  but  too  laborious  to  be 
engaged  in  such  uncertain  pursuits,  and  on  what 
did  they  subsist  becomes  the  question.  Nothing  of 
this  part  of  their  story  is  known.  None  of  our  t«- 
digenous  vegetables,  seem  well  adapted  to  supply 
their  wants ;  and  as  the  regions,  which  they  inhabit 
ed,  were  all  favorable  to  the  production  of  the  In 
dian  corn,  it  is  no  improbable  conjecture  that  this 
grain  vas  their  staff*  of  life." 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.         171 

Persons   disposed   to  visit  ancient  fortifications 
may  find  remains  at  the  following  places  :     • 

1.  About  two  miles  southeasterly  from  Aurora,  a 
triangular  area  of  one  or  two  acres  is  protected  on 
two  sides  by  precipitous  banks,  and  on  the  other  by 
two  ditches.     Bones  of  animals  and  fragments  of 
ancient  earthenware  are  found  in  beds  of  ashes. 

2.  On  tho  hill  south  of  Auburn, — also  a  circular 
ditch  enclosing  about  two  acres,  one  and  a  quarter 
miles  N.  N.  E.  of  Auburn.     The  only  opening  or 
gateway  appears  in  the  side  adjacent  to  a  spring, 
and  is  formed  by  extending  one  end  of  the  ditch 
beyond  the  other.     This  simple  contrivance  render 
ed  such  mounds  as  those  of  Circleville  unnecessary. 
No  vestige  of  iron  has  been  discovered,  although 
fragments  of  earthenware  are  numerous. 

3.  On  the  west  of  the  Seneca  River,  N.  W.  from 
Montezuma.    On  the  east  shore  near  this  village  a 
email  mound  appears. 

4.  We  also  learn  that  considerable  fortifications 
are  visible  near  Black  Hirer,  between  Brownsville 
and  La  Roy, 


Note  (2)— p.  118. 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  can  conclude  the  notes  on  the 
Mastodon  better  than  by  furnishing  the  reader  a 
nummary  of  information  relating  to  that  vast  crea 
ture,  made  up  of  facts  and  discoveries,  as  well  at 
tradition  and  conjecture,  partly  gathered  from  a 
valuable  note  to  De  Witt  Clinton's  Discourse  be* 


172        NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

fore  tbe  Lit.  and  Phil.  Society  of  Una  city,  and  part 
ly  prepared  from  other  sources. 

"  Tbe  traditions  of  the  Indians/'  says  Clinton 
in  the  authority  alluded  to,  which  is  a  dissertation 
rather  than  a  note,  ••  and  the  speculations  of  philoso 
phers  respecting  this   enormous  animal  have  been 
various,  and,  perhaps  on  the  whole,  unsatisfactory. 
It  is  certain  that  the  Indians  had  some  notions  re 
specting  the  mammoth,  which  they  might  have  de 
rived  from  tradition,  or,  after  seeing  its  remains, 
they  might  have  invented  the  fables  which  exist 
Charlevois,  in  his  voyage  to  North  America,  (vol.  I.), 
says,   *  There  is   also   a  very  diverting   tradition 
among  the  Indians,  of  a  great  elk  of  such  monstroin. 
size  that   the  rest  are  like  pismires  in   comparison 
of  him  ;  bis  legs,  they  say,  are  so  long  that  eight  feet 
of  snow  are  not  the  least  encumbrance  to  him  ;  his 
hide  is  proof  against  all  manner  of  weapons,  and  he 
has  a  sort  of  arm  proceeding  from  his  shoulder,  which 
he  uses  as  we  do  ours.    He  is  always  attended  Jby 
a  vast  number  of  elks,  which  form  his  court,  and 
which  render  him  all  the  services  he  requires.'  This 
description,  respecting   the   arm,   appears  like  the 
proboscis  of  an  elephant.    Kalm,  who  travelled  in 
this  country  in  1749,  says,  '  some  years  ago  a  skele 
ton  of  an  amazing  great  animal  has  been  found  in 
that  part  of  Canada  where  the  Illinois  livo  on  the 
river  Ohio.     The  Indians  were  surprised  at  the  sight 
of  it ;  and  when  they  were  asked  what  they  thought 
it  was,  they  answered  that  it  must  be   the  chief  or 
father  of  all  the  beavers.     It  was  of  a   prodigious 
bulk,  and  had  thick  white  teeth  about  10  inches 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.       173 

long.  It  was  looked  upon  as  the  skeleton  of  an 
elephant.  A  French  lieutenant  in  the  fort,  who  had 
seen  it,  assured  me  that  the  figure  of  the  whole  snout 
was  yet  to  be  seen,  though  it  was  half  mouldered. 
He  added,  that  he  had  not  observed  that  any  of  the 
bones  were  taken  away,  but  thought  the  skeleton  lay 
quite  perfect  there.  I  have  heard  people  talk  of 
this  monstrous  skeleton  in  several  other  parts  of 
Canada.' — Kalm'*  Travels,  vol.  3. 

In  the  20th  volume  of  Silliman's  Journal  will  be 
found  a  "  Report  of  Messrs.  Cooper,  J.  A.  Smith  and 
De  Kay,  to  tho  Lyceum  of  Nat.  History,  on  a  col 
lection  of  fossil  bones,  discovered  at  Big  Bone  Lick, 
Kentucky,  in  September,  1830,  and  recently  brought 
to  New- York."  Tho  report  is  followed  with  remarks 
by  the  editor,  which  corroborate  certain  suggestions 
in  the  First  Part  of  thig  work.  "  Having  (since 
the  above  account  was  received)  seen  the  collection 
of  bones  so  accurately  described  above,  I  cannot  re 
frain  from  attempting  to  convey  to  others  something 
of  the  impression  made  upon  my  own  mind,  on  en 
tering  the  room  containing  this  astonishing  assom- 
blage  of  bones,  many  of  which  are  of  gigantic  size. 
They  produce  in  the  beholder  the  conviction  that  ra 
ces  of  animals  formerly  existed  on  this  continent,  not 
only  of  vast  magnitude,  but  which  must  also  have  been 
very  numerous  ;  and  tht  Mastodon,  at  least,  ranged  in 
herd*  over  probably  the  entire  American  continent.  It 
is  stated  by  the  person  who  exhibits  this  collection, 
that  the  skull  and  the  tusks  which  it  contains,  weigh 
upwards  of  five  hundred  pounds;  that  a  pair  of 
tusks  now  lying  in  the  room  and  supposed  to  be- 
15* 


174  NOTES  TO    PART   SECOND. 

tang  to  th«  same  species,  weighed  six  hundred 
pounds  when  taken  from  the  ground ;  and  these  are 
nearly  perfect ;  and  when  we  regard  them  as  being 
merely  appendages,  and  sustained  by  the  animal  at 
a  great  mechanical  disadvantage,  since  they  do  not 
like  horns  rest  upon  the  head,  but  project  from  it 
laterally  forward,  we  can  easily  imagine  that  it  would 
require  the  most  powerful  muscles  to  sustain  and 
wield  tho  entire  cranium  tusks,  muscles  and  integu 
ments.  We  shall  be  happy  to  see  additional  illus 
trations  from  the  able  committee  to  whom  we  are  in 
debted  for  the  previous  statement  of  facts.  We  will, 
however,  venture  to  mention  the  extraordinary  cur 
vature  of  the  tusks :  those  of  the  elephant  we  believe 
are  always  in  the  form  of  a  bent  bow,  but  these  have 
almost  tho  shape  of  a  sickle,  with  the  blade  curved  to 
one  side ;  they  are  sharp  and  pointed." 

In  the  year  1748,  M.Fabri,  who  had  mado  great 
excursions  into  the  northern  parts  of  Louisiana  and 
the  southern  regions  of  Canada,  informed  Bufibn 
that  he  had  seen  heads  and  skeletons  of  enormous 
quadrupeds,  called  by  the  savages  the  father  of  oxen ; 
and  that  the  thigh  bones  of  the  animals  were  from  £ 
to  6  feet  in  length. — Buffen's  Nat.  Hist.,  trantl.  by 
Smelliq,  vol.  9. 

In  Siberia  a  similar  animal  was  supposed  to  exist 
under  ground,  and  many  fables  were  related  respect 
ing  it,  under  the  Russian  name  of  mammoth.  Not 
withstanding  these  traditions  and  reports,  the  atten 
tion  of  the  philosophers  of  Europe  was  not  fully 
drawn  to  this  subject  until  1765,  when  Mr.  George 
Croghan  saw,  in  the  vicinity  of  a  large  salt  marsh,  on 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.       175 

the  country  bordering  on  the  Ohio,  immense  bonea 
and  teeth,  and  he  sent  some  of  them  to  England, 
where  they  immediately  became  the  subject  of  specu 
lation  and  discussion.  Before  this  similar  bones  were 
discovered  in  the  Russian  dominions.  Dr.  Hunter, 
the  celebrated  anatomist,  from  an  examination  of  the 
teeth,  pronounced  them  to  belong  to  a  carnivorous 
nondescript  animal.  Daubentun  declared  at  ono 
time  that  this  animal  was  an  elephant ;  and  at  an 
other  time  thought  that  the  teeth  were  those  of  an 
hippopotamus,  and  conceived  that  the  animal  par 
took  of  both  of  these  species,  and  was  a  real  mule. 
Muller  supposed  that  they  belonged  to  certain  un 
known  quadrupeds,  denominated  maumouts,  or 
mammoths  from  the  Russian  name,  supposed  to  have 
been  derived  from  the  Hebrew,  Behemoth.  Buffon 
was  of  opinion,  that,  independently  of  the  elephant 
and  hippopotamus,  whose  relics  are  equally  found 
in  the  two  continents,  another  animal,  common  to 
both,  has  formerly  existed,  the  size  of  which  has 
greatly  exceeded  that  of  the  largest  elephants  ;  and 
at  one  period  he  supposed  that  it  was  seven  times 
larger.  Pallas  believed  that  the  bones  found  in  Si 
beria  were  those  of  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros,  and 
said  that  those  countries,  which  are  now  desolated 
by  the  rigors  of  intense  cold,  have  formerly  enjoyed 
all  the  advantages  of  the  southern  latitudes.  Gme- 
lin  supposes  that  vast  inundations  in  the  south  had 
driven  the  elephants  to  the  north,  where  they  would 
all  at  once  perish  by  the  rigor  of  the  climate.  Others 
are  of  opinion  that  the  tusk  and  skeleton  belonged 
to  the  elephant,  and  the  raolare*  to  the  hippopota- 


176  NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

mua ;  aa  the  grinders  were  not  those  of  the  former, 
some  thought  that  they  were  the  bones  of  the  hip* 
popotamus  only  ;  others  of  a  monster  of  the  ocean. 
And  the  Abbe  Clavigero  says,  "  that  they  may  from 
what  appears  have  belonged  to  giants  of  the  human 
as  well  as  of  any  other  race."  Jefferson  asserts  that 
the  skeleton  of  the  mammoth  bespeaks  an  animal  of 
five  or  six  times  the  cubic  volume  of  the  elephant, 
and  that,  the  grinders  are  five  times  as  large— are 
square,  and  the  grinding  surfaces  studded  with  four 
or  five  rows  of  blunt  points  ;  whereas,  thoso  of  the 
elephant  are  broad  and  thin,  and  their  grinding  sur 
face  flat."  To  mention  all  the  hypotheses  and  fables 
which  this  subject  has  produced,  would  be  useless 
and  consume  too  much  time ;  but  two  or  three 
more  are  worth  stating,  on  account  of  their  whim 
sical  absurdity.  One  writer  says,  that  the  bones  in 
question  are  the  remains  of  certain  angelic  beings, 
the  original  tenants  of  this  our  terrestrial  globe,  in 
its  primitive  state,  till,  for  their  transgressions,  both 
were  involved  in  ruin;  after  which  this  shattered 
planet  was  refitted  for  its  present  inhabitants. 
Another  imagines  that  at  some  remote  period  the 
places  in  which  these  bones  were  found  might 
have  laid  in  the  track  of  a  conqueror  unknown  to 
the  historians  of  Europe  ;  that  it  might  have  been 
the  scene  of  a  battle,  and  the  animals  in  question 
part  of  the  baggage  train  destroyed  by  slaughter  or 
disease,  and  left,  in  the  hurry  of  flight,  to  puzzle  and 
set  at  defiance  generations  yet  unborn. 

Within  a  few  years  abettor  opportunity  has  been 
afforded  of  farming  just  conclusions  respecting  this 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.        177 

animal.  Within  the  extent  of  a  few  miles  five  or 
ten  skeletons  have  been  discovered  at  the  bottom  of 
marl  pits  in  Orange  and  Ulster  counties,  and  (from 
the  calcareous  nature  of  the  substance  in  which  they 
were  deposited)  in  a  high  state  of  preservation.  One 
of  these  skeletons  has  been  mounted  and  placed  in 
its  natural  form  and  with  almost  all  the  bones  in 
Peale's  Museum  in  Philadelphia. 

In  1799,  upon  the  shores  of  the   Frozen  ocean, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Lena,  in  Siberia,  a  Ton* 
gouse  chief  discovered  in  the  midst  of  a  rock  of  ice, 
a  substance   which  did  not  resemble  the   floating 
pieces  of  wood  usually  found  there  ;  he  endeavored 
in  Tain  to  ascertain  what  it  was  at  that  time.  About 
the  close  of  the  second  summer  enabled  him  to  know 
that  it  was  a  mammoth  ;  but  he  could   not  succeed 
in  obtaining  the  tusks  of  the  animal  until  the  end  .->f 
the  fifth  year,  when  the  ice,  which  enclosed  it,  hav 
ing  partly  melted,  the  level  became  sloped,  and  this 
enormous  mass,  pushed  forward  by  its  own  weight,  fell 
over  upon  its  side  on  a  sand  bank.  In  March,  1804, 
the  Chief  Schoumachoff  obtained  the  tusks  and  sold 
them  for  fifty  roubles.     In  the  summer  of  1806,  Mi 
chael  Adams,  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  St.  Pe- 
tersburgh,  visited  the  mammoth  in  company  with 
the  chief,  and  found  it  in  a  very  mutilated  state. 
The  proprietor  was  content  with  the  profits  he  had 
already  derived  from  it,  and  the  jakouts  of  tho 
neighborhood  tore  off  the  flesh  with  which  they  fed 
their  dogs.    Ferocious  animals,  white  bears  of  tho 
north  pole,  gluttons,  wolves,  and  foxes  preyed  upon 
it  also,  and  their  burrows  were  seen  in  the  neighbor* 


178       NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

hood.  The  skeleton,  almost  completely  unfleshed, 
was  entire,  with  the  exception  of  one  of  the  fore* 
feet  The  spindyle  from  the  head  to  the  os  coccygis, 
a  shoulder  blade,  the  pelvis,  and  the  remains  of  the 
three  extremities  were  still  tightly  attached  by  the 
ligaments  of  the  joints  and  by  strips  of  skin  on  the 
exterior  side  of  the  carcass.  The  head  was  covered 
with  a  dry  skin  ;  one  of  the  ears,  well  preserved,  was 
furnished  with  a  tuft  of  bristles.  The  eyes  were 
also  preserved,  and  the  ball  of  the  left  eye  could  be 
distinguished.  The  tip  of  the  under  lip  had  been 
eaten  away,  and  the  upper  part  being  destroyed  ex 
hibited  the  teeth.  The  brain  was  still  in  the  crani 
um,  but  it  appeared  dry.  The  parts  least  damaged 
were  a  forefoot  and  a  hind  one  covered  with  skin 
and  having  the  sole  attached. — See  an  account 
of  a  Journey  to  the  Frozen  seas,  and  the  dis 
covery  of  the  remains  of  a  mammoth/  by  Michael 
Adams,  of  St.  Petersburg!!,  in  the  29th  vol.  of 
Tillock's  Philosophical  Magazine,  and  Cuvier's 
Essay  on  the  Theory  of  Earth,  transl.  by  Jameson. — • 
The  mammoth  of  New- York,  although  bearing 
some  general  resemblance  to  the  elephant,  differs 
from  it  in  the  general  figure ;  in  the  tusks,  forma* 
tion  of  the  head,  prominence  and  pointedness  of  the 
back  oyer  the  shoulders,  its  great  descent  thence 
from  the  hips,  together  with  the  comparative  small- 
ness  of  the  body  j  there  are  proofs  of  greater  ac 
tivity  also  in  the  structure  of  the  thigh-bones  and 
the  formation  of  the  ribs,  which  are  peculiar  and  in 
dicative  of  greater  strength  ;  it  also  differs  in  the 
magnitude  of  the  spines  of  the  back ;  the  proper- 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.       179 

tionate  length  of  the  processes  from  the  spine  of  the 
scapula ;  the  thickness  and  strength  of  all  the  bones, 
particularly  of  the  limbs  5  the  le«th>  which  are  of 
the  carnivorous  kind ;  its  under  jaw,  which  is  dis 
tinctly  angular,  instead  of  being  semi-circular,  as  in 
the  elephant,  besides  several  other  striking  distinc* 
tions.  There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  it  is  at 
least  specifically  distinct  from  the  elephant.— Ph ilo* 
tojphical  Magazine,  Peak's  account,  vol.  14. 

From  the  size  of  the  head,  the  thickness  and 
solidity  of  the  teeth,  and  the  enormous  magnitude 
of  the  tusks,  we  can  at  once  perceive  that  the  neck 
of  the  animal  must  of  necessity  have  been  short,  in 
order  to  sustain  so  great  a  weight.  These  circum 
stances,  considered  in  connection  with  the  length  of 
the  limbs'presently  to  be  described,  clearly  indicates 
that  the  Mastodon,  like  the  Elephant,  had  a  long  and 
flexible  trunk  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  its  ali 
ment  to  the  mouth  ;  the  shortness  of  the  neck  and 
the  projection  and  curvature  of  the  tusks,  would 
equally  have  prevented  the  approach  of  the  mouth 
to  the  ground. —  Godman's  Nat.  Hist. 

The  examination  of  the  Asiatic  Mammoth  has 
also  settled  the  question  as  to  its  identity  with  the* 
American.  They  are  considered  as  specifically  if 
not  generically  different.  Blumenbach  has  termed 
the  Asiatic  mammoth,  elephas  primaevus  or  primo- 
genus,  and  the  American  mammoth  the  elephas 
Americanos.  Covier  calls  it  the  mastodontus, 
which  name  has  been  adopted  by  Dr.  Barton.  In 
the  memoirs  of  the  National  Institute,  Cuvier  de 
scribes  the  former,  elephas  mammonteus,  maxilla 


180       NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

obtusiore,  lamellis  molarium  tenuibus  rectia  j  and 
the  latter  be  characterizes  as  follows:  Elepbas 
Arnericanus,  molaribus  raulti-cuspidibus,  lamellis 
post  detritionem  quadrilobatis.  In  his  opinion* 
neither  of  them  are  the  same  as  the  existing  ele 
phant,  and  he  considers  them  as  extinct.— Sci^tf** 
Fhya.  tt  Mat.  11. 

Dr.  Barton,  of  Philadelphia,  is  of  opinion  that  the 
animal  described  by  Adams,  although  different  from 
the  Ohio  animal,  has  a  great  and  striking  affinity  to 
it.  He  believes  there  is  a  much  greater  affinity  be 
tween  the  Asiatic  mammoth  and  the  existing  Asiatic 
elephant,  than  between  either  of  them  and  the  Ohio 
or  American  mammoth ;  yet  there  are  several  other 
characters  in  which  the  resemblance  is  much  closer 
between  the  Ohio  animal  and  the  Asiatic  mammoth, 
than  between  the  latter  and  the  Asiatic  elephant, 
and  that  one  of  these  characters  consists  in  the  great 
resemblance  of  the  incisores,  tusks  or  horns.  Dr. 
Barton  is  further  of  opinion  that  the  Asiatic  mam 
moth  has  been  discovered  in  different  parts  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  a  branch  of  the  Susquehan- 
nah  receives  its  name  of  Chemung  from  the  incisores 
of  one  of  these  animals. — Port  Folio,  vol.  4,  Bar» 
ton's  Ittt^r  to  Je/erton. 

Governor  Pownall,  in  a  paper  published  in  the 
Philosophical  Magazine,  vol.  14,  after  having  view 
ed  the  skeleton  of  the  New- York  mammoth,  exhi 
bited  by  Mr.  Peale  in  London,  is  of  opinion  that  it 
was  a  marine  animal  from  the  following  circum 
stances  : 

1.  Its  being  carnivorous,  and  its  enormous  bulk 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.        181 

would  therefore  require  a  supply  of  animal  food 
from  the  earth  which  it  could  not  get,  and  which 
could  only  be  found  in  the  abundance  of  tho  waters. 

2.  He  thinks  there  are  parts  in  the  debris  of  the 
skull  which  have  some  comparative  resemblance  to 
the  whnle  as  to  the  purpose  of  breathing  under  wa 
ter  ;  that  the  width  of  the  jaws  is  similar  to  that  of 
fish  ;  and  that  the  ribs  more  similar  to  those  of  fish 
than  to  those  of  terrestrial  animals,  are,  by  their  con 
struction   and  position,  ordained   to  resist  a  more 
forcible  external  compression  than  the  atmosphere 
creates. 

3.  That  the  neck  is  so  short  that  the  animal  could 
not  reach  the  ground  with  its  mouth,  the  line  from 
the  withers  to  the  end  of  the  under  jaw  being  about 
one  third  of  the  line  from  the  withers  to  the  ground. 

Mr.  Peale  says  that  there   are  many  reasons  to  V 
suppose  that  he  was  of  an  amphibious  nature,  and  is      ^ 
decidedly  of  opinion  that  he  lived  entirely  on  flesh 
or  fish. 

While  some  may  be  willing  to  concur  with 
Mr.  Peale  as  to  its  amphibious  nature,  few  will 
agree  with  Pownall  in  its  being  an  aquatic  animal. 
The  shortness  of  its  neck  might  have  been  supplied 
by  a  trunk.  The  poir.ts,  wherein  it  resembles  in  its 
formation  certain  fish,  are  only  indicative  of  ama 
zing  strength ;  and  there  is  no  strong  objection  to 
believe  that  it  was  also  gramnivorous,  and  drew  its 
supplies  from  the  vegetable  as  well  as  the  animal 
kingdom. 

Upon  the  whole,  we  may,  with  considerable 
fidence,  come  to  the  following  conclusion* : 
16 


182       NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

1.  That  the  Asiatic  and  African  living  elephants 
and  Siberian  mammoth  are  specifically  distinct. 

2.  That  the  New- York,  Ohio  or  American  mam 
moth  is  specifically  if  not  generally  different  from 
them.    . 

3.  That  it  was  carnivorous,  and  lived  upon  the 
land. 

4.  That  it  may  have  also  been  gramnivorous,  or 
omnivorous  and  amphibious. 

6.  And  lastly,  that  it  is  extinct. 

Extract  from  a  letter  ofSttvanus  Miller  to  De  Witt 

Clinton: 

"  The  first  disco  wy  of  these  fossils  was  made  in 
the  town^of  Montgomery,  in  the  county  of  Orange, 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Annin.  The  place  of  discovery  was  in 
a  sunken  and  miry  meadow,  in  digging  a  ditch  to 
carry  off  the  excess  of  water.  Several  of  the  harder 
parts  or  bones  of  the  mammoth  skeleton  were  dis 
covered  ;  these  were  the  ribs,  two  teeth  (grinders) 
and  parts  of  the  thigh  bone  ;  the  teeth  and  ribs  were 
in  a  very  sound  state,  but  the  others  were  considera- 
bly  decayed,  and  an  exposure  to  tho  air  had  such  an 
effect  upon  them  as  to  render  their  preservation 
useless.  Subsequent  to  thut  time  several  scattered 
remains  of  skeletons  of  the  same  animal  have  been 
discovered  ;  but  from  carelessness  or  other  causes 
these  have  been  lost.  The  speculations  of  persons 
who  saw  these  phenomena  were  various,  and  in 
some  instances  ridiculous,  affording  no  rational  im 
provement  to  the  naturalist.  The  advancement  of 
agriculture,  which  began  to  show  itself  in  the  coun- 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 


183 


lies  of  Orange  and  Ulster  at  this  period,  while  it  en 
riched  the  husbandman  and  beautified  the  country, 
was  the  cause  of  other  discoveries  of  this   nature, 
which  drew  the  subject  before  the  public,  attracted 
the  immediate  attention  of  literary  men,  and  led  to 
the  exertions  of  the  enterprising  Mr.  Peale,  of  Phila 
delphia,  who  procured  two  skeletons  of  these  non 
descript  animals  nearly  entire.     By  the  ingenuity 
and  enterprise  of  this  gentleman  these  hidden  trea 
sures  of  natural  history   were    brought  to  public 
view,  to  astonish   and   delight  the  sons  of  science- 
At  the  time  of  this  discovery  it  was  my  lot  to  be  in 
the  vicinity,  and  to  contribute  my  exertions  in  tak« 
ing  them  from  their  hidden  depositories.    The  parts 
of  these  fossils  heretofore  discovered  had  excited  an 
interest  far  short  of  their  importance.     The  num 
bers  being  now  increased,  and  a  spirit  of  inquiry 
being  set  on  foot,  excited  a  high  degree  of  public  in-    V 
terest.     The  big  bones  (as  they  were  called)  were 
exposed  for  show,  and  persons   from  various   mo 
tives  in  great  numbers  flocked  to  behold  this  hither 
to  hidden  wonder.  *  *  *  * 
The  nature  and  formation  of  this  mammoth  coun 
try,  as  well  as  the  particular  places  where  those  ani 
mals  were  found,   may  possibly  be  interesting,  and 
to  this  object  I  shall  devote  a  few  general  remarks. 
The  only  fossils  of  this  skeleton  which  have  been 
discovered,  have  been  found  in  wet  and  miry  lands  « 
in  the  towns  of  Montgomery  and  Shawangunk.  The 
former  in  Orange  and  the  latter  in  Ulster  county,  in 
this  state,  distance  about  SO  miles  from  this  city, 
and  6  to  12  miles  from  Newburgh  on  the  Hudson 


184       NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

river,     In  a  western  direction  from  the  Hudson 
river  for  some  5  or  6  miles,  the  ground  rises  gradu 
ally  but  perceptibly  until  you  come  to  the  confines 
of  Coldenbam ;  the  waters  running  easterly  until 
you   arrive  here,  now  take  the  contrary  direction, 
and  turning  westerly  are  disembogued  into  a  con 
siderable  stream,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Wall- 
kill  and  sometimes  the  Paltz  river.     On  the  high 
lands  at  Coldenham  you  perceive  a  range  of  high 
mountains,  known  by  the  name  of  "  Shawangunk 
mountains,"  from  whence  the  waters  run  easterly, 
and  falling  into  the  Wallkill  are  carried  into  the 
Hudson  river  at  the  strand  near  Kingston,  in  Ulster 
county,  about  112  miles  distant  from  New- York. 
These  mountains  on  the  west,  and  a  ridge  of  high 
lands  on  the  east,  form  a  natural  valley  of  very  con 
siderable  extent,  varying  in  breadth  from  35  in 
the  southern  to  the  northern  extremity  of  3  miles 
or  thereabout.     The  formation  and  nature  of  this 
country  has  nothing  to  characterize  it  from  other 
parts  of  our  state  in  the  middle  district.   The  woods 
and  forest  trees,  the  grasses  and  productions  of  every 
kind,  are  those  which   are  indigenous   to  various 
parts  of  the  state  and  to  all  adjacent  counties.     The 
general  formation  of  this  country  is  smooth,  marked 
by  some  bills  of  secondary  altitude,  is  susceptible  of 
yielding  every  kind  of  produce  cultivated  in  north 
ern  climates.     The  immense  quantities  of  what  is 
generally  termed  Goshen  butter,  are  made  in  this 
valley  and  on  the  lands  between  it  and  the  Hudson 
river,  extending  from  New  Cornwall,  situate  at  the 
northern  entrance  into,  the  Highlands,  to  the  poinj 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.        185 

of  land  called  the  Dause  Kaumer,  in  the  town  of 
Maryborough.     In    all   this  district  of  country  the 
pasturage  is  luxuriant   and    excellent,   and   affords 
a  greedy  repast  for  black  cattle,  sheep,  &c. 
*  *  » 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  succinct  account  of  the 
country,  that  whether  the  mammoth  delighted  in  the   • 
fertile   plain,   in  the  low   and  sunken  meadow  or 
swamp,  or  in  the  lofty  and  craggy  mountains,  or  in 
all  of  them,  the  variety  of  the  soil.and  formation  of 
the  country,  afford  &  gratification  to  all  his  natural 
inclinations  and  propensities.     I  do  not  know,  how 
ever,  that  the  marl  discovered  in  abundance  in  Ul 
ster  and  Orange  counties  has  .been  found  in  their 
neighborhood ;  and  it  is  proper  to  remark,   that  in 
these  sunken  receptacles  of  vegetable  and  testaceous 
solutions,  have  unifo.-mly  been  found  the  bones  of 
the    mammoth,     Perhaps    it    may    bo    said     that  V 
in  this  marl,  by  its  alkaline  qualities,   have  these     1 
fossils  alone   been  preserved  from  dissolution  and 
decay.      The    formation    of   these    has  evidently 
been  the  work  of  ages.     In  many  places  the  body 
of  this  manure  is  thirty  feet  in  depth,  over  which 
grass  and  vegetable  plants,  common  to  such  grounds, 
grow  in  abundance,  interspersed  with  trees  of  diffe 
rent  kinds.  *  *  » 
Within  a  circle,  the  radius  of  which  does  not  ex- 
qced  six  miles,  there  are  several  hundred  acres  of 
marl.     A  very  small  proportion  of  this  has  been  ex 
plored  or  dug  to  the  bottom,  where  the  fossil  bones 
have  uniformly  been  discovered.     By  the  force  of 
their  own  weight  they  have  naturally  aunk  through 
16* 


185  NOTES  TO   PART  SECOND. 


- 


the  soft  marl  and  found  rest  many  feet  below  on 
solid  and  harder  ground  ;  and  yet  within  the  peri 
phery  of  this  circle  nine  skeletons  of  these  prodi 
gious  animals  have  been  discovered.  It  may  cer 
tainly  be  safely  computed  that  not  one  hundredth 
part  has  been  explored  to  the  bottom.  If  then  so 
many  have  been  found  in  so  small  a  proportion  of 
this  mammoth  ground,  and  admitting  that  there  has 
been  great  good  fortune  in  falling  upon  their  place 
of  rest,  does  it  not  afford  a  most  reasonable  hypothe 
sis  to  say  that  there  are  vast  numbers  of  these  na 
tural  curiosities  deposited  here  for  future  discove 
ries,  and  that  at  some  period  our  country  (in  this 
district)  was  fully  inhabited  by  this  stupendous  ani 
mal  ;  that  in  numbers  they  equalled  the  other  beasts 
of  the  forest,  such  as  the  bear,  the  wolf,  the  pan- 
ther,  &c.,  in  the  proportions  which  larger  animals 
bear  to  the  smaller  in  the  order  of  nature.  That 
they  were  carnivorous  as  well  as  gramnivorous  is 
pretty  well  authenticated  by  the  formation  of  their 
grinders.  Indeed,  my  worthy  and  learned  friend, 
Dr.  James  G.  Graham,  who  examined  the  fossils, 
went  sti]!  further ;  for  the  formation  of  the  bones 
near  and  belonging  to  the  foot,  warranted  him,  as  a 
professional  man,  in  the  belief  that  this  animal  had 
claws,  !••••• 

Dr.  Mitchell  appears  to  have  struck  upon  a  phi 
losophical  explanation,  which  is  at  once  bold,  and 
will  explain  the  phenomena.  He  places  these  curi 
osities  amongst  elephantine  relics,  occasioned  by 
the  change  of  the  axis  of  the  globe  90°  at  some  very 
remote  period.  By  this  hypothesis  may  be  explain- 


NOTES   TO   PART    SECOND.  187 

ed  the  existence  of  these  bones  and  bodies  of  ani 
mals  belonging  to  low  and  warm  latitudes,  being 
found  in  cold  and  frozen  climates  of  the  earth.  That 
gentleman  supposes  the  ancient  equator  to  have  ex 
tended  in  the  northern  hemisphere  from  the  bay  of 
Bengal,  near  where  the  mouths  of  the  Ganges  are, 
through  Thibet*  Tartary  and  Siberia  to  the  present 
North  Pole,  and  thence  along  in  North  America,* 
through  the  tracts  west  of  Hudson's  Bay  and  Lake 
Superior  to  the  source?  of  the  Mississippi,  and  thence 
down  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  near  its  places  of  dis-. 
emboguement,  and  so  onward  across  New  Spain  tc* 
the  South  Sea.     That  such  was  probably  the  old 
equatorial  line.    In  corroboration  of  this  gentleman's 
opinion  he  truly  alleges,  that  under  the  ancient  equa 
tor  have  been  found  the  remains  of  animals  peculiar 
to  warm  climates.     The  bones  of  the  elephant  and 
the  rhinoceros  are  discovered  almost  all  the  way\ 
where  he  would  designate  the  ancient  equator  ;  tlial     **» 
in  colder  latitudes  the  frozen  bodies  themselves,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Genesee  and  the  Lena,  and  in  mass 
es  of  ice  lying  upon  the  shores  of  the  Asiatic  con 
tinent  and  thereabouts,  have  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  naturalist ;  that  in  America  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  was  the  place  of  the  former  equator,  in 
which  direction  the  fossil  skeletons  are  most  fre 
quent,  and  that  the  creatures  to  whom  they  belong 
may  be  supposed  to  have  perished  at  the  grand  ca 
tastrophe  in  their  proper  and  natural  climates ;  that 
the  migration  of  the  human  race  and  the  passage  of 
animals  from  Asia  to  America,  find  a  solution  by  this 
theory  of  easy  and  rational  comprehension.      *       * 


188        NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

It  is  important  to  add,  that  with  the  discoveries  of 
these  skeletons  have  been  found  considerable  locks 
and  tufts  of  hair ;  having  been  buried  a  great  length 
of  time  in  a  calcareous  substance,  it  retained  its  na 
tural  appearance,  and  was  brought  to  light  in  a  tolera 
ble  state  of  perfection  ;  the  length  was  from  one  and 
a  half  to  two  inches  and  a  half,  of  a  dunnibh  brown 
color.  In  one  instance  the  hair  was  much  longer, 
measuring  from  four  to  seven  inches  in  length,  of  the 
san:e  color,  and  resembling  in  appearance  the  short* 
er,  and  was  conjectured  to  have  been  the  mane  of  the 
mammoth,  Whether  a  discoloration  had  not  taken 
place  from  its  native  appearance  must  remain  a  mat 
ter  of  conjecture,  jlp  every  instance  nn  exposure  to 
air  caused  it  to  moulder  away  into  a  kind  of  impalpa 
ble  dust.  This  fact  would  seem  to  render  it  certain 
that  the  animal,  the  relics  of  whose  body  were  here 

/foutid,  appertained  to  a  race  totally  different  from 
any  elephants  now  known  to  naturalists." 

To  bring  down  ouv  brief  on  Behemoth  to  the 
present  moment,  we  give  a  paragraph  which  ap 
peared  in  a  New-York  paper  (The  Evening  Star)  of 
February  Sth  : 

11  The  Bones  of  the  Mastodon  at  Auction. — It  would 
appear  that  the  bones  of  the  head  of  the  American 
Mastodon,  which  were,  until  lately,  a  desideratum 
that  all  zoologists  anxiously  awaited  the  discovery 
of,  have  been  permitted  by  our  learned  societies  to 
leave  this  country.  We  have  now  the  humiliating 
consolation  to  know  that  these  most  rare  and  valua 
ble  relics  of  this  antediluvian  monster,  have  been 
hawked  about  the  streets  of  London,  until  finally 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.        180 

knocked  down  dog-cheap  under  the  hammer  of  a 
cockney  auctioneer.  So  much  for  the  love,  the  ar 
dor  of  our  scientific  association  for  the.  promotion  of 
the  study  of  natural  history !  It  is  discreditable 
that  such  precious  treasures  should  have  been  thus 
abandoned.  We  said  so  at  the  time  ;  but  it  seems 
there  was  not  spirit  enough  to  keep  the  bones  of 
our  own  proud  king  of  the  forest  among  us.  It  is 
an  enigma  we  cannot  solve,  how  the  idiot  of  an  own 
er  never  thought  to  go  to  Paris  with  his  osteological 
speculation.  There  they  are  interested  in  what  re 
lates  to  our  animals,  fossils,  &c. ;  and  Cuvier,  if 
alive,  would  have  been  in  ecstacies  to  have  seen  the 
head  of  that  Mastodon  which  He  christened  with  this 
name.  The  fine  cranium  with  the  upper  jaw  and 
teeth  brought  only  100  francs.  The  head  perfect, 
44  inches  long  and  23  wide  brought,  however,  3,822 
francs,  i.  e.f  near  $750,  which  was  not  a  tenth  part 
of  its  value ;  and  that  it  is  probably  the  only  one  that 
has  ever  been  discovered  or  ever  probably  may  be.. 
We  believe  it  came  from  Kentucky.  Almost  al- 
ways  the  head  is  found  wanting,  though  the  teeth 
and  leg  bones  are  remarkably  sound.  The  giant 
quadruped  that  bounded  over  the  prairies  little 
dreamed  of  the  destiny  that  awaited  him." 


Note  (3)— p.  121. 

Without  pretending  to  adopt  the  opinions  or  con 
jectures  that  follow,  I  quote  them  as  expressing  the- 


190  NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND. 

views  of  an  eminent  man,  and  as  embodying  a  plausi 
ble  explanation  of  the  settlement  of  this  country. 
They  are  quoted  from  "  Priest's  Antiquities :" 

"  The  following  is  from  the  pen  of  the  late  William 
Wirt,  of  Virginia,  on  the  subject  of  the  ancient  in 
habitants  of  this  country  :  '  Mr.  Flint  and  other  tra 
vellers  and  sojourners  in  the  West,  state  that  the 
impress  of  the  leaves  of  the  bread  fruit  tree,  and  the 
bamboo,  have  frequently  been  found  in  peat-bed  and 
fossil  coal  formations  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Ohio.  Pebbles  of  disruption,  vast  ma  ses  of  lead 
ore  far  from  the  mine,  stratified  rocks,  earth  and 
sand,  and  specimens  of  organic  animal  and  vege 
table  remains,  belonging  to  a  tropical  climate,  clearly 
indicate  some  important  and  extensive  changes  oc- 
casioned  by  fire  or  water  in  the  whole  great  valley 
of  the  Mississippi.  Then  the  regular  walls,  the 
bricks,  the  medals,  the  implements  of  iron  and  cop 
per,  buried  in  a  soil  which  must  have  been  undis 
turbed  for  ages,  with  the  alphabetic  characters  writ 
ten  on  the  cl  ill's,  plainly  show  that  other  ruceti  of  men 
have  existed  and  passed  away.  And  what  a  world 
must  that  have  been,  when  the  mammoth  and  the 
megalonyx  trod  the  plains,  and  monstrous  lizards, 
whose  bones  are  now  rescued  from  the  soil,  and 
which  must  have  been  at  least  eighty  feet  in  length, 
reared  their  heads  from  the  rivers  and  the  lakes  1 

The  mighty  remains  of  the  past,  to  which  we  have 
alluded,  indicate  the  existence  of  three  distinct  races 
of  men,  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  white  settlers. 
The  monuments  of  the  first  or  primitive  race,  are 
regular  stone  walls,  well  stoned  up,  brick  hearths, 


NOTES  TO  PART  SECOND.       191 

found  in  digging  the  Louisville  canal,  medals  of  cop 
per,  and  silver  swords,  and  other  implements  of 
iron.  Mr.  Flint  assures  us  that  ho  has  seen  v.hese 
strange  ancient  swords.  He  has  also  examined  a 
small  iron  shoe,  like  a  horse  shoe,  encrusted  with 
the  rust  of  ages,  and  found  far  below  the  soil,  and  the 
copper  axe  weighing  about  two  pounds,  singularly 
tempered  and  of  peculiar  construction.  These  re 
lics,  he  thinks,  belonged  to  a  race  of  civilized  men, 
who  must  have  disappeared  many  centuries  ago.  To 
this  race  he  attributes  the  hieroglyphic  character* 
found  on  the  limestone  bluffs;  the  remains  of  cities 
and  fortifications  of  Florida;  the  regular  banks  of 

ancient  live  oaks  near  them,  and  the  bricks  found  at 

\f 

Louisville,  nineteen  feet  below  the  surface,  in  regu 
lar  hearths,  with  the  coals  of  the  last  domestic  fire 
upon  them.     These  bricks  were  hard  and  regular, 
and  longer  in  proportion  to  their  width  than  those  \ 
of  the  present  day.  \ 

To  the  second  race  of  beings  are  attributed  the 
vast  mounds  of  earth,  found  throughout  the  whole 
western  region,  from  Lake  Erie  and  west  Pennsyl 
vania  to  Florida  and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Some 
of  them  contain  skeletons  of  human  beings,  and  dis 
play  immense  labor.  Many  of  them  are  regular 
mathematical  figures — parallelograms  and  sections 
of  circles,  showing  the  remains  of  gateways  and  sub 
terranean  passages.  Some  of  them  are  eighty  feet 
high,  and  have  trees  grown  on  them  apparently  of 
the  age  of  five  hundred  years.  They  are  generally 
of  a  soil  differing  from  that  which  surrounds  them, 
and  they  are  most  common  in  situations  where  it 


192  NOTES   TO  PART   SECOND. 

since  has  been  found  convenient  to  build  towns  and 
cities*  One  of  these  mounds  was  levelled  in  the 
centre  of  Chilicothe,  and  cart  loads  of  human  bones 
removed  from  it.  Another  may  be  seen  in  Cincin 
nati,  in  which  a  thin  circular  piece  of  gold,  alloyed 
with  copper,  was  found  last  year.  Another  in  St. 
Louis,  called  tho  falling  garden,  is  pointed  out  to 
strangers  as  a  great  curiosity.  Many  fragments  of 
earthenware,  some  of  curious  workmanship,  have 
been  dug  throughout  this  vast  region.  Some  re 
presented  drinking  vessels,  some  human  heads,  and 
tome  idols.  They  all  appear  to  be  moulded  by  the 
hand  and  hardened  in  the  sun.  These  mounds  and 
earthen  implements  Jmlicuto  a  race  inferior  to  the 
first,  which  was  acquainted  with  the  use  of  iron. 

The  third  race  are  the  Indians,  now  existing  in 
the  western  territories,  In  the  profound  silence  and 
/  solitude  of  these  western  regions,  and  above  the 
bones  of  a  buried  world,  how  must  a  philosophic  tra 
veller  meditate  upon  the  transitory  slate  of  human 
existence,  when  tho  only  traces  of  the  beings  of  two 
races  of  men  are  these  strange  memorials  !  On  this 
very  spot,  generation  after  generation  has  stood,  has 
lived,  has  warred,  grown  old,  and  passed  away  ;  and 
not  only  their  names,  but  their  nation,  their  lan 
guage,  has  perished,  and  utter  oblivion  has  closed 
over  their  once  populous  abodes!  We  call  this 
country  the  New  World.  It  is  old !  Age  after  age, 
and  one  physical  revolution  after  another,  has  passed 
over  it,  but  who  shall  tell  its  history  1" 

THE  END. 


J.  &  H.  G.  LANGLEY 

Have  recently  published, 

THE  MOTLEY   BOOK, 

BY  THE  LATE  BEN.  SMITH; 
With  Ten  Illustrations,  by  Dick  and  others. 

SECOND  EDITION, 

CONTAINING 

Beelzebub  and  His  Cart,  Potter's  Field, 

Greasy  Peterson,  The  Adventurers  of  Sol  Cla 

rion 


non, 

The  Vision  of  Dr.  Nicholas  Grim,  The  Melancholy  Vagabond 
TheMerry-Makcrs.ExploitNo.I.  The  Great  Charter  Contest  in 

Gotham, 

The  Witch  and  the  Deacon,          The  Puffer  Dinner, 
The  Druggist's  Wife,  N.  A.  Society  for  the  Encour% 

agement  of  Imposture, 

TheMerry-Makers,ExploitNo.It.  Disasters  of  Old  Drucjo-e,          ** 
Parson   Huckins'  First  Appear 
ance,  The  Unburied  Bones. 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  There  are  many  capital  strokes  of  humor  and 
touches  of  nature  in  this  light  and  amusing  work. 
The  author  frequently  manifests  a  masterly  insight 
into  character,  and  some  of  his  sketches  of  life  in 
Now- York  are  to  the  life." — New-York  Mirror. 

"  Those  who  have  with  us  enjoyed  the  fun  of 
these  amusing  sketches,  when  extracted  by  us  from 
time  to  time,  will  be  pleased  to  see  them  in  a  shape 
fit  for  preservation.  They  make  a  very  handsome 
volume  of  nearly  two  hundred  pages,  and  will  assist 
in  handing  down  the  memory  of  names,  places  and 
scenes,  peculiar  to  this  our  good  city  of  Gotham."  -*  / 
JV.  Y,  American.  jfcf 


. 

"  A  pleasant  and  interesting  book,  full  of  fun, 
with  Tory  excellent  illustrations." — Co*r.  and  Enq.     • 

"  From  the  first  the  lucubrations  of  the  late  Ben. 
Smith  gave  us  much  pleasure,  and  we  hailed  their 
appearance  in  a  new  and  more  attractive  dress  as  an 
evidence  that  the  originality  and  raciness  of  his  hu 
mor  and  his  genuine  pathos  had  not  been  entirely 
unappreciated.  *  *  Many  of  his  sketches 
are  drawn  with  the  graphic  pencil  of  a  master,  and 
the  style  of  several  passages  is  in  the  highest  grade 
of  excellence.  We  shrewdly  suspect  that  the  author 
is  a  young  man,  and  if  so,  we  think  that  wo  claim 
not  too  much  for  him  when  we  say  that  he  needs 
only  that  improvement  which  careful  practice  will  ' 
give  to  take  a  high  and  acknowledged  rank  in 
American  Literature." — Sun.  Mor.  Newt. 

"  Right  profitably  has  Mr.  Ben.  Smith  used  the 
talents  committed  to  his  keeping,  for  he  tells  sixteen 
stories  which  would  do  honor  to  the  club  of  good 
fellows  Mr.  Pickwick  was  wont  to  assemble  around 
his  board." — Boston  Evening  Gazette. 

"  We  knew  Ben.     He  loved  a  laugh  and  a  lash 
right  well,  and  had  withal  a   Sterne-like  sensibili 
ty,  which  in  his  graver  moments  exhibited  itself  with 
marvellous  pathos.     This^oa/  mortem  production  U 
just  such  a  work  as  we  always  said  would  be  found  in 
his  escritoire  by  his  executor." — Sat.  Mor.  Trant't. 
"  We  had  watched  its  progress  in  numbers  with 
much  interest,  and  felt  convinced  even  then  that  a 
true  humorest  had  at  length  appeared  amongst  us. 
The  late  lien.  Smith  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the 
common  herd  of  writers  ;  albeit,  his  name  is  by  no 
means  uncommon.     The  Motley  Book  is  not  one  of 
those  productions  which  daily  issue  from  the  press, 
to-day  read,  to-morrow  forgotten — but  has  peculiar 
merits  of  its   own.     It  indicates  a  rich   fund  of 
raried  excellence,  which  will,  if  we  mistake  not,  in 
sure  for  the  writer,  at  no  distant  day,  an  elevated 
rank  in  our  literary  records.     In  the  short  compass 
of  less  than  two  hundred  pages  he  has  shown  a  com 
plete  mastery  in  the  apparently  opposite  fields  of 
'  pathos  and  humor."— N.  Y.  Gazette. 


J.  &  H.  G.  LANGLEY, 

Have  recently  published, 
THE  BEAUTIES  OF  THE  HON.  DANIEL  WEBSTER, 

SELECTED  AND  ARRANGED, 

With  a  Critical  Essay  on  his  Genius  and  Writings, 
By  JAMES  REES  ;  1  vol.  ISmo. 

OPINIONS  OF  THE  NEW-YORK  PRESS. 
Beauties  of  Daniel  Webster. — It  consists  of  short 
extracts  from  the  speeches  and  writings  of   Mr. 
Webster,   selected   by  the   compiler,   Mr.  James 
Recs.    The  selections  are  made  with  good  taste  and 
discriminating  judgment,  and  together  form  a  work 
of  rare  excellence.     We  have  seen  the  •'  beauties" 
of  Burke,  Johnson,  Robert  Hall,  and  others,  and 
in    our  judgment  the    "  beauties"    of  our  distin 
guished   countryman  bear  a  favorable  comparison 
with  the  very  best  of  them.     Owing  to  the  great 
length  of  Mr.  Webster's  discourses,  perhaps  very 
few  have  read  them  with  suificient  attention  to  dis 
cern  all  their  merits ;  but  in  the  work  before  us, 
the  prominent  of  these,  from  his  numerous  produc 
tions,  are   selected,  and   can   be   easily  read,  and 
when  perused,  we  do  not  doubt  they  will -be  exceed 
ingly  admired,  fraught  as  they  are  with  noble  sen-  > 
tiraents  and  profound  wisdom,  clothed  in  the  most 
pure,  chaste,  and  elegant  diction.     We  recommend 
every  one  of  our  readers  to  become  possessed  of 
the  work  when  it  shall  be  published. — Commercial 
Advertiser,  Jan.  24, 1839. 

Beauties  of  Daniel  Webster. — Messrs.  J.  &  H. 
G.  Langley,  57  Chatham-street,  have  published  a 
handsome  little  volume  bearing  this  title,  containing 
judiciously  selected  extracts  from  the  speeches,  ad 
dresses,  &c.  of  that  distinguished  gentleman.  The 
work  is  edited  by  James  Rees,  who  has  added  a 
critical  essay  on  the  genius  and  writings  of  Mr. 
Webster.  Mr.  Rees  has  discharged  both  duties 
well  and  ably,  and  we  wish  the  book  might  go  into 
the  hands  of  every  person  capable  of  reading,  from 
New-Brunswick  to  Texas.— N.  Y.  Gazette,  Ftb.  23. 
Beauties  of  Daniel  Wefottr  — This  is  the  title  of 
a  neat  little  work*  prepared  with  much  care  by  Mi\ 

; 


James  Reo*,  and  will  shortly  be  issued  from  the 
press.  The  selections  are  judiciously  made  and 
admirably  arranged.  Mr.  Webster  is  one  of  the 
great  men  of  the  country  never  at  a  loss  for  words, 
powerful  in  argument,  fascinating  and  beautiful  as 
an  orator.  The  work  will  meet  with  an  extensive 
sale,— WA2#,  Feb.  1.  ,,  . 

Beauties  of  Daxitl  Weftler.-* -The  selection  of 
choice  passages  from  the  legal  and  parliamentary 
orations  of  Mr.  Webster,  the  existence  of  which  in 
manuscript,  we  mentioned  u  few  weeks  since,  is  now 
published  by  J.  &  H.  G.  Langley.  It  makes  a  hand 
some  little  volume  of  92  pages,  which 9ugbt  to  have  a 
sale  of  thousands  in  tins  city  alone,  and  tens  of 
thousands  elsewhere.  The  passages  are  selected 
with  judgment  and  good  taste,  presenting  a  rare  as 
semblage  of  noble  thoughts  clothed  in  surpassing 
eloquence  of  language.  We  are  glad  to  see  that 
the  Editor  has  been  careful  not  to  omit  that  magni 
ficent  outburst  of  patriotism,  the  conclusion  of  the 
great  speech  in  answer  to  Mr.  Hayne,  on  Nullifica 
tion. — Commercial,  Feb.  22. 

The  Beauties  of  Daniel  Webster,  ifc. — Selected 
and  arranged  by  James  Ilees.  New-York  :  J.  &  H. 
G.  Langley.  Most  appropriately  is  this  beautiful 
and  precious  little  volume  dedicated  to  "  the  friends 
of  liberty  throughout  the  world,  and  to  the  admirers 
of  the  English  language  in  its  purity." 

A  more  abla,  consistent,  far-seeing,  and  devoted 
friend  of  rational  liberty ;  a  more  disinterested, 
clear  and  constant  Advocate  and  expounder  of  that 
constitution  Which,  to  this  Union,  is  the  pledge  alike 
of  happiness  and  freedom,  or  a  more  pure  and  pol 
ished  writer,  of  "  English  undefined,"  does  not,  as 
>ve  believe,  exist  within  our  wide  world. 

Wo  rejoice,  therefore,  that  selections  so  tastefully 
made  as  those  in  this  volume,  .have  been  put  forth 
in  a  shape  and  form  to  give  them  wide  circulation 
among  all  classes  ;  for  the  extracts  are  such  as  no 
American,  of  whatever  party,  can  fail  to  admire. 

commend  these  Beauties  to  all  our  readers. 
Y.  American,  Fcb,  23, 


I 


0. 

UJ 


1 


t 


D 

to 

Kh- 


co 


CN 


8s 

is 

!° 


"") "?  /~ 

—~  /  v(£-f  £ 

U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CDDTDDUISI 


